


You Got Me

by awkwardmoments



Series: You Got Me [1]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: AU, Childhood Friends, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-02-18 08:49:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21991465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardmoments/pseuds/awkwardmoments
Summary: “I heard something at the bar last night,” Wynonna confessed as she sat down opposite Waverly.“Was it your liver screaming?” Waverly countered, deadpan, without looking up from her phone.“Baby girl,” Wynonna said seriously, and something in the tone of her voice made Waverly glance up.“What’s wrong, Wynonna?” Waverly put her phone down and leaned on the table.“She’s coming back to town.”“Who?” Waverly said slowly, still not sure how seriously she should be focusing on whatever it was Wynonna was trying to tell her.“Nicole.”ORChildhood friends to lovers to nothing...but always something...
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Series: You Got Me [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922467
Comments: 214
Kudos: 1271





	1. Then

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first thing I've posted, but not the first thing I've written. I have a vision for where this is going and I think it's only going to be a couple of chapters, but we'll see.

**Waverly 5, Nicole 6**

“Nonna!” Waverly yelled out to her older sister as soon as she was in earshot. 

She grasped Nicole’s hand tighter and pulled her into a run toward the house. Waverly was excited to tell her sister the news, and Nicole felt her heart swell with pride. 

Wynonna looked up, squinting into the summer sun as they approached. 

“What is it, baby girl?”

Waverly looked over at Nicole briefly to give herself a moment to catch her breath, grinning when their eyes met, she felt Nicole squeeze her hand. The redhead’s cheek was a little smudged with dirt, probably from where they had been picking flowers in the field earlier, and one of her overall straps was sagging off her pale, freckled shoulder. Waverly’s wild, untamed hair for days was blowing in the breeze, pulled back from her face by a barely visible blue ribbon. It had no doubt been tied into a neat bow by her mother before she and Nicole ran off into the field to play.

“We got married!” Waverly finally said, bursting with excitement that she just couldn’t contain any longer.

“You did?” Wynonna feigned shock. “Who’d you’d guys marry?” 

Waverly’s brow furrowed in confusion. 

“Each other, silly!” She scoffed, as if that was the dumbest question she’d ever heard.

Wynonna smiled and tilted her head in affection.

“Why wasn’t I invited?”

Waverly’s face fell, and Nicole looked over, guilty.

“We were picking flowers, and Nicole asked me to marry her, and I said yes. I’m sorry you weren’t there.” Waverly looked down at her sandals and toed the dirt under her right foot.

“It’s ok. I’ll catch the next one.” Wynonna waved her hand dismissively, trying to lighten the mood, but Waverly’s eyes only grew wider.

“Aren’t you only supposed to get married once?” Her eyebrows raised in question.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Willa said as she walked out on to the porch. The screen door creaking and then slamming behind her. Waverly’s eyes lit up again, and Wynonna was thankful for her sister’s sudden appearance.

“Yeah!” Waverly squealed and looked over at Nicole again. Willa smiled and sat down on the porch steps, putting her at eye level with the little girls standing at the bottom. She reached out a hand and cupped Waverly’s cheek.

“I’m happy for you,” she said while gazing at her little sister fondly. “Just don’t consummate it until you’re much older,” she said while grinning widely at the two little faces looking back at her.

“What’s consummate?” The three younger girls asked in unison.

**Waverly 9, Nicole 10**

“Do you think it’s okay for girls to love girls?” Nicole asked shyly, not looking Waverly in the eye.

They were spending the last day of summer vacation sitting in their favorite field on the Homestead, overlooking the mountains in the distance.

“Yes,” Waverly answered softly and simply while she reached over to bump her fingers into Nicole’s hand resting in the soft, green grass behind her. 

Nicole looked over in Waverly’s direction when she felt the touch, but kept her eyes averted from her childhood friend. The beautiful brunette that she loved more than anything else in the world.

Nicole smiled sadly.

“Not in the way you love me, Waverly. In the way that Aunt Gus loves Uncle Curtis, or the way that my mom loves my dad.”

Nicole looked up at the sky, the white, billowy clouds passing them slowly, creating intermittent shade from the afternoon sun above.

“Nicole,” Waverly covered her hand over the redhead’s and squeezed. Nicole’s brown eyes finally met hazel ones, clouded by a pool of tears gathered on the bottom lids, threatening to fall any second. “Yes.”

**Waverly 12, Nicole 13**

“Nicole, you have to put a Band-Aid on it or else it’s just going to keep bleeding,” Waverly was annoyed at the redhead’s protests of covering her wound. She never liked to use Band-Aids, claiming that they only prevented scars from forming. 

“It’ll be fine. It just needs a little kiss,” Nicole said, holding out her finger towards Waverly’s lips. The brunette rolled her eyes and took Nicole’s hand in hers, placing her lips softly to the bloody finger.

“Chicks dig scars,” Nicole said with a smirk on her face.

“Well thank God for that, because by the time you have any chicks after you, you’ll be covered in them.”

“Hey, I already have chicks after me.” Nicole crossed her arms indignantly, and Waverly smirked.

“I don’t count, Nicole. I’m not AFTER you. I already HAVE you.” 

Nicole uncrossed her arms as a dimpled smile spread across her face. She wrapped Waverly in a bone crushing hug, while the brunette left her arms hanging limp by her side.

“You do, don’t you?” Nicole squeezed a little tighter and heard Waverly let out a puff of air in protest.

“Come on, Evel Knievel, let’s at least get that cut washed.”

**Waverly 15, Nicole 16**

“Do you think he’s cute?” Nicole asked incredulously, her hands shoved in the pocket of her basketball hoodie as she walked out of the high school gym with the cheerleader by her side.

“Yeah, I mean, don’t you?” Waverly asked while pushing a strand of stray hair behind her ear.

“I don’t find men attractive, Waverly. You know that.”

Waverly scoffed and stopped dead in her tracks, Nicole realizing she was no longer beside her after a few more steps. She turned around to face her.

“Dammit, I know that, Nicole. But you can see that he’s an attractive guy,” Waverly said and then clinched her jaw together waiting for Nicole’s response.

“He’s not good enough for you,” Nicole said softly and took another step closer to Waverly.

“There it is,” Waverly said and threw her hands in the air. “How many times are we going to do this, Nicole? Please, tell me. Who IS good enough for me?” she asked, eyebrows raised in question and hands set squarely on her hips. Nicole took a deep breath in, filling her lungs with air, trying to convince her brain that it was courage instead. 

She looked Waverly dead in the eyes.

“No one is good enough for you, Waverly.” Nicole reached out and lightly ran her fingers down Waverly’s arm, watching as goosebumps appeared in their wake. Waverly chewed her bottom lip, closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as Nicole’s hand reached the tips of her fingers before falling back by her side. “No one,” she said in a whisper.

She opened her eyes and found Nicole staring at her, the eyes she knew so well giving her away every time. Want, sadness, fear, longing, and always, always love swimming around in those deep, russet pools. But, instead of getting lost in her brown eyes like she always did, she got angry. She knew Nicole recognized the moment the switch flipped because she took a tiny, nearly imperceptible step back, and braced herself.

“I refuse to go through high school never having been kissed because the girl who _wants_ to kiss me has never _asked_ to, and never _will_ because she thinks she isn’t good enough.”

“Waverly…” Nicole whispered, but she cut her off.

“But all the while, she’ll openly judge me for contemplating a date with someone who actually shows interest.”

“Waverly…” Nicole tried again.

“No. I’ve known you my whole life, Nicole. You’re the best person I know, bravest person I know. You’re my best friend, you’re funny, and smart and so driven, and so fucking beautiful I can’t even. If anyone is good enough for me, it’s you.”

Nicole surged forward, one hand wrapping behind Waverly and cradling the back of her head in a sweaty palm, while the other fisted into the back of the tight cheer uniform. She heard Waverly suck in a sharp breath, and she looked up into her hazel eyes, finding shock, but undeniable elation. Nicole closed the small gap and lightly pressed her lips to Waverly’s. 

Clichés were never Nicole’s thing, but there was no question that fireworks went off in her chest the moment their lips touched. Her brain short-circuited and all she could process was the feel of Waverly in her arms, the touch of her smooth, soft lips, the sound of the little breathy moan she released when Nicole swiped her tongue over her lower lip.

The kiss seemed to go on forever, while simultaneously ending too soon when they both needed to surface for air. They pulled apart slowly but didn’t release their hold on each other, their faces still only inches apart.

“Why haven’t we been doing that for ages?” Waverly asked with a coy smile on her face. Nicole grinned, and pulled the brunette back in again.

**Waverly 16, Nicole 17**

They were lying on a blanket in the middle of the field – their field. Their spot. Naked bodies glistening in sweat, legs tangled around each other, breathing heavily, holding on to each other tightly, Waverly and Nicole had just made love for the last time.

Nicole was coming down from her high, still feeling the ghost of Waverly’s mouth between her legs. She twitched lightly and took in one last deep breath before her surroundings started to register in her brain once again.

She heard Waverly sniffle, and felt a small drop of water land on her collar bone.

“Baby,” Nicole whispered and tried to pull away to get a look at her girlfriend’s face. Nicole then noticed her body was shaking in the attempt to hold back the sob forcing its way up from her chest. The dam was about to burst, and Nicole could only hold on to the woman she loved and brace herself for the flood.

“Nicole…” Waverly finally wept and dug her nails into the pale skin below her fingers.

Nicole had found out only weeks before that her family was moving clear across the other side of Canada. Her father had accepted a long overdue promotion, and it was uprooting her entire life right before her senior year. She was devastated, and Waverly, well, Waverly was inconsolable.

They had been inseparable their entire lives, and now, just when things were starting to get good (Nicole had said that while wiggling her eyebrows at the petite brunette – trying her hardest to bring a moment of levity to the heartbreaking news), they were being forced apart. 

They had the rest of their lives planned out. They were going to get accepted into the same college, then Nicole was going to go into the academy, Waverly would start teaching, they’d get married, have lots of babies, travel the world, and then eventually move back home to grow old on the Homestead. 

Nicole promised her that it would all still come true. They would just have to spend a couple of years apart in the meantime. It was all going to be fine.

—————

They had tried. Really, they had. The first year they managed to survive on late night phone calls, both staying up into the early hours of the morning and refusing to be the first to hang up. 

But then Nicole ended up getting a basketball scholarship to the University of Ontario.

_You can’t pass that up, Nicole._

And the following year, Waverly got accepted to Harvard.

_You have to go, baby._

And they had kept in touch and tried to see each other as often as possible, but plane tickets were expensive, and college students were poor, and college students were busy, and most college students weren’t tied down to girlfriends thousands of miles away, which was hard.

Which was lonely.

And so, Waverly called Nicole one afternoon, earlier than she usually would, and when Nicole picked up the phone, she knew.

_But I love you._

_I know. I love you too. I always will._

Then they had tried to stay friends, but inevitably, other relationships started to come along, and even though neither could totally invest themselves in anyone else while still being in love with each other, most conversations would end in an argument.

_What’s she like? She sounds pretentious._

_He’s a boy-man. You can do better._

_Fuck you!_

_No, fuck you!_

Then they decided not to talk for a while. Give each other space to try and fall out of love. It was painful. Looking back, they would both admit that their college years were some of the best and absolute worst in their lives.

The years started to go by, and they would only hear things about one another from mutual friends. Nicole kept in touch with Wynonna every now and then, but hardly ever asked about Waverly, and Wynonna never dared bring her up first. 

**10 Years Later**

**Waverly 26, Nicole 27**

Waverly was sitting at the old, scratched, wood table in the kitchen of the Homestead, sipping her tea and reading the morning news on her phone when Wynonna stumbled in, either hungover or still drunk from the night before.

“I heard something at the bar last night,” Wynonna confessed as she sat down opposite of Waverly.

“Was it your liver screaming?” Waverly countered, deadpan, without looking up from her phone. 

“Baby girl,” Wynonna said seriously, and something in the tone of her voice made Waverly glance up. 

“What’s wrong, Wynonna?” Waverly put her phone down and leaned on the table.

“She’s coming back to town.”

“Who?” Waverly said slowly, still not sure how seriously she should be focusing on whatever it was Wynonna was trying to tell her.

“Nicole.”

“What?”

“Waverly, she’s coming back to town. To stay.”


	2. But Then Again...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little bit more backstory, a lot more angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, pals. Thanks for all the comments and kudos - hope this chapter lives up to your expectations!

**Present**

**Continued**

Waverly’s heart was racing, her palms had suddenly gotten sweaty, her mouth unquenchably dry.

“Nicole? Home? How do you know? Who…who told you?” She was trying to keep the panic she was feeling from being evident in her voice. 

“Chrissy. Nedley’s looking to retire in a couple of years. He recruited her to be his replacement. Apparently, she’s kicking ass and taking names in Ontario.”

The fact that Nicole was doing well in Ontario made her heart warm. She was proud of her, even though she expected nothing less. And honestly, she’d be lying if she said that she hadn’t kept up with Nicole’s career over the years. She’d already won awards, one newspaper article claiming she was the most promising recruit to the Seventh District that they had seen in many years. 

“When?”

“Dunno,” Wynonna said while she rummaged around in the fridge for something to eat. “A couple weeks?”

**Waverly 14, Nicole 15**

“Where’d you find it?” Waverly asked hesitantly as she looked down at Nicole’s hands.

“My brother’s sock drawer.” 

Nicole had run over as soon as she found it, and then they had come out to the field, their spot, to figure out what to do with it. 

“I was putting away laundry - Mom asked me to, and, there it was.”

“Why would he keep it in his sock drawer? Isn’t that a little obvious?” 

“Waverly, boys aren’t very bright. It’s one of the many reasons I’m not attracted to them.” Waverly smirked. “And besides, it’s not even the most offensive thing I’ve found in there.” 

“Gross.” Waverly huffed under her breath. “Have you ever done it before?” She was nervous.

Nicole laughed. “Waves, I’ve never done anything without you. I’m certainly not going to have ever smoked weed without you.” 

“Right.” 

A beat.

“Well.” 

Another.

“Shall we?” She scrunched up her face in an adorable, mischievous, grin. 

Nicole had the urge to lean over and kiss her. She was so damn irresistible.

Instead, she pulled out the lighter she had found, and lit the blunt. 

A little while later, after having passed the joint back and forth a few times, they were spread out on the grass as if they were making summer snow angels. 

“Why are you so far away?” Waverly hollered to the sky, startling Nicole.

“I’m not far away,” Nicole replied, confused. “I’m right here.” She pointed to herself, and then gave her body a few testing pats to make sure she was, in fact, still present.

Waverly was reduced to a fit of giggles.

“Not you!” Waverly managed to get out in between breaths, after seeing the offended look on Nicole’s face. But then her brow furrowed in question. “But also, not NOT you.” Waverly said and then tucked her arms in and rolled over to Nicole. 

She was half of a roll too close, and Waverly came to a stop nearly on top of her. Her right leg tangled in between Nicole’s legs and her right arm thrown around her waist. 

“Hi,” Waverly said as she looked down on Nicole, a wide grin on her face, crescent moon eyes. 

“Hello Miss Earp,” Nicole smiled back fondly, dimple on display. “Do you feel any different?”

Waverly pondered the question.

She felt calm, but her brain was a little fuzzy, she was hungry for some reason even though she’d just eaten lunch, and everything was seemingly fucking hilarious.

“Nope.” 

She looked down at Nicole, and then they were both sent into another round of uncontrollable laughter. 

They lay tangled up in each other quietly for a little while longer, until Waverly lifted her head from Nicole’s shoulder. 

“What else have you found in your brother’s sock drawer?” Waverly rested her head in the palm of her left hand, her right drawing nonsensical patterns on Nicole’s shirt over her heart. She shivered at the touch. 

“Uhhh, well, I found some Playboy magazine’s one time,” Nicole said, trying to focus on anything other than the growing pressure in between her legs. 

Waverly’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Did you look at them?”

“Well, I mean, yeah...”

“And?” 

“Super degrading.” 

“Buuuuut?” She asked drawing out the word. Waverly knew her all too well. 

“Sexy as fuck.” Nicole let out breathily, and Waverly smiled. 

“Did you...ya know...” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at the redhead, and her cheeks instantly flooded a brighter red than her hair. 

“I may have,” she tried to respond casually with a shrug. 

“Do you still have them?” 

“No.”

“Too bad.”

“Why?” 

“I wanted a go...” 

“Wave-er-ly!” Nicole drew out her name in feigned scandal. 

“What?” She asked innocently, her own cheeks turning a light shade of pink. 

“Well, all you have to do is think about someone you like. That works just as well - sometimes better even.”

“Yeah,” Waverly hummed softly. “I know.”

The sun was starting to disappear over the mountains, but Waverly didn’t want to leave the soft comfort of Nicole’s embrace.

“Do you think we’ll stay friends forever?” Waverly asked, lifting her head again from Nicole’s shoulder.

“We better,” Nicole rubbed soothing strokes up and down Waverly’s back. “There doesn’t seem like much point to anything if you’re not around to share it with.”

It was a few seconds before Waverly responded.

“Yeah,” she said finally. “I know.”

**Present**

**Wednesday**

“Operation Wayhaught?” Wynonna passed around the shots and then turned to the group for their reaction to her proposal. 

Jeremy, Robin, Doc, Dolls, Willa, Chrissy and, of course, Gus behind the bar. 

They were all there at Shorty’s waiting for _Professor_ Waverly (a nickname that Wynonna had given her not long ago) to show up for her birthday party.

_I’m not a professor, Wynonna. I don’t have a doctorate._

_You got your masters at Harvard in Badassery, you write articles for historical and scientific journals and newspapers all over the world that none of us can even understand a word of, you speak every language on the planet, and now you teach history to all of Purgatory’s rowdy high schoolers. Ergo, PROFESSOR._

Wynonna was planning to make her celebrate and get her a little more drunk than she usually ever let herself get. 

“Leave those two girls alone, Wynonna. They’ve been through enough without your meddling.” Gus said and grabbed the whiskey bottle from Wynonna’s grasp. 

“Exactly! Because no one meddled!” Wynonna shot back in defense. 

“I’m pretty sure I tried to meddle a time or two,” Jeremy confessed, and Robin nodded his head in agreement. 

“Me too,” Willa raised a finger and shrugged. 

“Same,” Doc and Dolls said in unison. 

Gus raised her eyebrows towards Wynonna, but she just waved her hand around in the air, brushing them all off. “Well, whatever,” she countered, “We’ve never COMBINED forces, you see.” 

She held up her shot glass, nodded her head, and tossed it back, and everyone else did the same. 

**Waverly 21, Nicole 22**

It was her 21st birthday. She was drunk. More drunk than she’d ever been in her entire life. 

“Waverly! Where are you going?” Jeremy yelled after her as she stumbled out of the bar on to Eliot Street. Robin was attempting to pay the tab and waved Jeremy on to follow her. 

She dug around inside of her purse and pulled out her phone just as he ran up next to her.

“She always used to call me on my birthday,” Waverly slurred, “But she didn’t even text me today.” 

Jeremy grabbed for her phone, but Waverly was too quick, and she spun out of his reach. 

“Waverly...”

She paid for the cab and made her way up the steps to her apartment. Fumbling around with her keys, she finally made it inside and plopped down on the couch with a huff. 

_You will not cry._

She figured if she repeated it like a mantra, it would somehow keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks. 

_Worthless meditation shit._

_Fuck it._

She picked up her phone sitting in the couch next to her and found the familiar number. 

“Hullo?” Nicole’s groggy voice filled her ears, and she couldn’t stop her breath from hitching in her throat. She always loved the sleepy version of Nicole. 

A tear rolled down her cheek. 

“You didn’t call me,” Waverly said softly, sadly. 

Nicole sat up in bed, immediately awake. 

“Waverly?” 

“You didn’t call me. It’s my birthday. My 21st birthday, and you didn’t call.” 

Nicole could tell she was drunk. She could tell she was crying. 

“Waves, I...”

“You promised,” she whispered. “You promised it wouldn’t change anything.”

She heard Nicole sigh. 

“And you said on my 21st birthday in the States that you’d buy all the drinks, and then make the biggest breakfast either of us had ever seen the next morning to help cure the hangover.”

“I know...”

“Tell me how to quit you, Nicole. Tell me how,” she sobbed. Finally letting out all the pent-up sadness.

She heard rustling on the other end. Presumably Nicole getting out of bed.

“I can’t,” she finally responded. “I wish I knew, but I don’t...I don’t know how to either, Waverly.”

She sighed heavily. 

More tears ran down Waverly’s cheeks. She was tired of crying. 

So, she was going to do something else instead. 

“I can’t even get off unless I think about you,” she blurted out before her mind could drop a roadblock in the path of the words rolling off her tongue. 

“Waverly...” Nicole said in warning, her voice a little shaky.

“Come get me, Nicole. Come find me. Come be with me.”

She started to trail her hand down the front of her shirt, desperate, reaching the snap of her jeans and popping it open. 

“Come touch me,” she whined, choking out the last of the sadness caught in her throat. 

“Jesus,” Nicole said lowly, breathless on the other end of the line. “Baby...”

Then Waverly heard a faint voice in the background. A woman. And her hand stopped its decent immediately. 

“No, it’s ok,” she heard Nicole whisper, clearly with her face away from the phone, speaking to whomever was there with her.

“I’m going to be sick,” Waverly mumbled, and hung up the phone, rushing to the bathroom to empty the contents of her stomach. 

————

Nicole stood on Harvard’s campus outside of Robinson Hall. 

She had tried in vain for weeks, after Waverly’s call on her birthday, to get back in touch with her. 

So, a couple of months later, she decided to take matters into her own hands. 

Standing on the opposite side of the street, facing the doors, waiting to catch a glimpse of the brunette, she was poised and fully ready to get her girl; her speech all worked out. 

After what felt like forever, the doors finally opened, and a small flood of people emerged. Nicole’s eyes darted all around, quickly surveying each face until she spotted her, her heart jumping wildly at the sight. 

She looked so smart. So beautiful. 

Nicole glanced up and down the street, being cautious of the traffic, and right when she was about to step out and call Waverly’s name, she looked back up to find her being swept into a hug. 

A gorgeous, tall, brown-haired woman embraced her, pulled away, and then planted a kiss squarely on her lips. 

Waverly smiled. The kind that crept to the corners of her eyes, creating crescent moons. 

She was happy. 

Nicole’s heart sank deep into the pit of her stomach. She felt like she was going to be sick. 

Before the couple turned to head toward their favorite coffee shop, the brunette could have sworn she saw a flash of golden copper hair in the sunlight out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look full on, there was no one there. She had to force herself not to sigh aloud, but internally, her heart clenched with abject disappointment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got Chapter 3 already written. I was going to post this all as one chapter, but it felt a little too long. I think I'll post 3 in another few days.


	3. When

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens in Vegas...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You asked for it, pals. I just don't know how much you'll be thanking me once you read it! So. Much. Angst.

**Present**

**Thursday**

“Has Wynonna heard from her?”

“No, but apparently when she talked to her last, she was buying a house in Ontario.” Waverly offered. “That was only five or six months ago.” 

“Maybe it fell through?” Jeremy suggested, pushing the plate with the rest of his omelette out from in front of him.

Waverly ran her fingers through her hair and pinched her nose.

Wynonna had somehow convinced her at the party the previous night to drink enough alcohol to kill a small animal. Waverly was paying for it dearly. Jeremy suggested an early morning breakfast before heading off to school to help with the wicked hangover. 

Talking about Nicole was something they rarely did, and the thought of her coming back to town honestly made him a little nervous. If anyone could nearly die of sadness, Jeremy had almost witnessed it with Waverly that fall semester at Harvard. He certainly knew he didn’t want to watch her go through that again. 

“I guess Nedley gave her an offer she couldn’t refuse.” She shrugged quickly and looked down at her half-eaten avocado toast. 

Jeremy narrowed his eyes, suspicious, not buying in to Waverly’s feigned ignorance. 

“Right. Nedley’s offer...from the police department that can barely afford coffee in their budget.”

Waverly glanced up, giving him a warning look. 

“She doesn’t even know I’m back here, Jeremy. Wynonna swears she hasn’t talked to her since I got back a few months ago. So, I guess I’ll just be a nice little bonus,” Waverly said angrily. “How convenient for her.” 

“How are you feeling about seeing her again?” Jeremy ventured cautiously. 

Waverly sighed. “I haven’t seen her since her Mom’s funeral.” 

He nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“And that...what happened after...I just...” 

She pushed her fingertips into her eyes and groaned. They all knew bits and pieces of what had happened that night and the months following, but Jeremy never knew the complete truth of the matter. He didn’t know if Waverly had never even told Wynonna the whole story. 

“I still don’t know how I feel.”

She paused. 

“About any of it.” 

**Waverly 23, Nicole 24**

Waverly was walking out of her last class of the day chatting happily with her friend Beth when her phone started to vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out, planning on silencing the call, but stopped dead in her tracks, nearly dropping it on the pavement. 

“Waverly? Do you still want to go get a drink before we head to the library?” Beth adjusted the book bag strap on her shoulder. 

“What?” 

“Drink? Library? Any of this ringing a bell?” Beth clearly getting frustrated at Waverly’s inability to multitask. 

“Oh, uh sorry. No, you go ahead. I have to take this,” she pointed to the phone in her hand. “I’ll meet up with you in a bit.” 

Beth rolled her eyes and walked off. 

Waverly took a deep breath and pressed the green button on the face of her phone, trying to avoid noticing the shake of her hand as she brought it to her ear. 

“Nicole?” 

“Waverly. Hey.” 

Something was wrong. Waverly could tell immediately. 

“Sorry, I know this is out of the blue. I didn’t think you’d answer, but I didn’t want you to hear this from Wynonna or Jeremy...”

Waverly’s heart started to race.

_She’s getting married. Oh God if she says she’s getting married..._

Waverly had the urge to scream and throw her phone halfway across the brickyard as if it was a bomb about to spontaneously detonate. As if not hearing the news would somehow make it less real.

“My Mom...she...she died, Waverly.”

Waverly had never felt the simultaneous emotion of sadness and relief at the same time, followed immediately by guilt. 

“Oh Nicole, I’m so sorry.”

_But I’m so glad you’re not getting married._

————

The next few days went by in a blur. After turning in all her end of the semester assignments (she had finished them early anyway), she found herself on a plane to Ontario. There was no way she wasn’t going to show up to the funeral of Melissa Haught. She had been like a mother to Waverly after her own had abruptly left, and even though she had Gus, and her sisters, there was no substitute for a mother’s hug. 

She couldn’t really process the fact that she was about to see Nicole for the first time in years. She hadn’t even spoken to her since the night of her 21st birthday despite Nicole’s continued efforts to call her back for weeks afterwards.

The only thing that kept her from drinking herself into oblivion on the flight was the fact that Wynonna and Jeremy would be meeting her at the hotel. Apparently, the entire crew would be there to support Nicole and say goodbye to a mother that they had all grown up loving. It gave Waverly some comfort knowing that she could potentially just hide behind her friends and mostly avoid Nicole all together, but at the same time, she felt a familiar pull of excitement in the pit of her stomach at the idea of being in the same room as Nicole Haught once again. 

She missed her. 

Still. 

Always. 

————

Waverly’s reaction to her first glance at Nicole had surprised her a little. She knew she had missed her, but seeing her again, looking even more beautiful than she remembered, had her heart feeling like it was trying to claw its way up through her throat; aching, craving to be near her. She looked so sad, but so so good. Waverly felt tears welling behind her eyes. At least at a funeral, no one questions crying. 

————

Waverly had only briefly interacted with Nicole in the receiving line. The redhead had smiled at her and pulled her in to a warm embrace. Waverly couldn’t help but bury her face in Nicole’s neck.

_Vanilla dipped donuts._

“It’s so good to see you, Waverly. So so good.” She inhaled deeply. 

_Lavender and sage._

“You too, Nicole. I’m so sorry...”

 _About your mom. About us. About everything._

————

The group ended up that evening at a trendy bar after the grave-side service. Waverly was grateful for the chance to down a little liquid courage if she was going to have to be around Nicole in such tight quarters. 

Luckily, the redhead hadn’t seen any of her childhood friends in quite some time, so most of the evening was spent making the rounds, catching up, reminiscing and hearing stories from her friends about her mom. Waverly did her best to stay in the shadows, perched at the bar for most of the night.

Nicole was a few drinks in by the time she had spoken to everyone - except Waverly. She squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and headed in the direction of the bar. 

Waverly downed her second drink, deciding to take it slow, not wanting to make a fool of herself in this setting. She was comfortably buzzed, but nowhere near drunk. 

“Want another?” Nicole pulled out the bar stool next to Waverly and sat down. 

“Oh hey. Umm no. No thanks.” 

Nicole finished the last sip of her drink and slid the glass on the bar, pushing it away from her. 

“Thank you for coming all this way. It means a lot to me.” 

_You mean a lot to me._

“Of course, Nicole. I loved your mom.”

_And I still love you, too._

Waverly gave a small smile. 

“I remember this one time...”

————

After over an hour later, the two girls were leaning into each other laughing. It felt so good to be in each other’s company again. To remember what it used to feel like.

Most of the crew had left, briefly grabbing Nicole by the shoulder or giving her a quick hug, not wanting to interrupt the two from catching up. 

“Oh man, she was so pissed that night! I was grounded for a week!” Nicole said in between breathless laughter. 

“I remember! I wasn’t supposed to see you!” Waverly laughed back. “But I snuck in that one night, and...”

Their merriment immediately died, and the brunette’s face fell as she let the story trail off. Nicole swallowed thickly, leaning back in her stool, stealing a glance at the brunette. 

Nicole had gone down on Waverly for the first time the night that she snuck in through her tiny bedroom window. She could still remember the look on her face when she came, the way her skin glistened with sweat as her body tried to curl in on itself, the way her fingers felt as they desperately dug into Nicole’s scalp. She had been hooked ever since. She could still taste...

“Last call ladies,” the bartender said, abruptly pulling Nicole out of her thoughts. Neither of them had had a drink in over an hour.

She cleared her throat. “Just the check, please,” she mumbled. 

He handed her the bill and she pulled out her wallet. Waverly knew it was useless to try and argue over who would pay. Nicole rested her arms on the bar, counting out the bills. 

“You have more tattoos,” Waverly said, motioning to Nicole’s exposed forearms. 

“Yeah.” Nicole stuffed her wallet back in her pocket. 

“Can I see them?”

Nicole turned to Waverly and held out her arms. When she felt Waverly’s fingers brush over her skin, she closed her eyes, little shocks of electricity running through her veins at the feel of Waverly’s hands on her body once again. Waverly ran her thumb over the tattoo on the inside of Nicole’s right wrist, the first one she had ever gotten, before she moved to Ontario so many years ago. Nicole opened her eyes and found Waverly looking up at her, hazel eyes boring straight into her soul. The brunette’s lips twitched up into a small, sad smile while still rubbing her thumb over the simple W.E. permanently inked on Nicole’s skin. Permanently inked on Nicole’s heart. 

————

“We’re just going to let this happen?” Wynonna said while leaning on the table next to Doc. They were both watching the interaction at the bar.

“I don’t think there’s much we can do to stop it.”

“Hmmm.” Wynonna nodded in agreement. 

“I just hope they know what they’re doing.”

Wynonna scoffed. “I can assure you, they do not.”

———— 

“Do you have them anywhere else?” Waverly asked with her hands still wrapped around Nicole’s arms. 

“Yes.”

“Where?”

Nicole looked down at Waverly’s fingers on her skin. She took a deep breath in through her nose and stared into Waverly’s eyes.

“You’d have to take me back to your hotel room to see them.” 

Waverly took a sharp breath in. 

There it was. The ball had been tossed. The chess piece placed. 

_Your move._

“Nicole, I don’t think...”

She grabbed the brunette’s hands in hers and cut her off. 

“I know. I’m sorry,” she lowered her head. “It’s just...I can’t be here with you and joke around with you and talk to you like no time has passed without also wanting to hold you...and kiss you,” her hand drifted down to rest on the inside of Waverly’s knee, “and touch you.”

_Holy shit._

Waverly closed her eyes and gulped visibly as Nicole leaned in, her hand slowly inching its way up her thigh.

“I just want to feel something other than sad right now, Waverly.” 

The brunette opened her eyes, Nicole’s face close to hers. 

“I think we’ll regret it. Tomorrow. We’ll both just be sad all over again. Won’t we?” she said breathily, all the while knowing she was going to give in. 

“I’ve been sad over you for my entire adult life Waverly,” Nicole whispered. “I’m just so tired of missing you. I don’t want to miss you tonight.”

————

The cab ride back to the hotel had been silent, thick with sexual tension. Even the cab driver kept glancing in the rear-view mirror nervously. He’d seen some shit in his day. He’d seen it all. But these two, these two were holding in some major feelings, and something was about to explode - or implode. He couldn’t tell which. He just hoped it wasn’t in the back seat of his cab. 

————

“Do you want another drink?” Waverly asked as soon as her hotel door closed. She shrugged off her jacket, and immediately felt Nicole’s presence behind her. Close. Her breath on her neck. Waverly nearly sank to the floor. 

“No,” Nicole answered quickly. “I want to remember every detail of this.” 

Waverly’s stomach clenched low. 

She turned Waverly around, holding onto her biceps. Their faces inches from each other. Waverly felt like she was going to combust into a million tiny embers. 

She looked down at Nicole’s lips, and just as she was about to surge forward, Nicole pushed her away gently, forcing her a few steps back until her knees hit the bed. She pushed again, and Waverly sat down on the edge. 

Nicole took a few steps away, looking down at her beautiful girl. Her chest rising and falling rapidly in anticipation, her eyes dark with want. Nicole felt heat pool between her legs. 

_Keep your cool. Take it slow. Savor this._

She raised her hands and slowly proceeded to unbutton her black dress shirt. Waverly swallowed thickly as the redhead reached the last button and let the shirt hang loosely open, revealing the smallest sliver of smooth, pale skin and a hint of a black, lacy bra underneath. She waited for the brunette’s eyes to meet hers again, and when they did, she slowly rolled her shoulders and pulled the garment down. 

Waverly could just make out her nipples through the thin, sheer fabric of the black bra, and her fingers tightened their grasp on the edge of the bed. 

“This one,” Nicole said, not taking her eyes off Waverly as she pointed to a small inscription on her ribcage, tattooed just below her left breast, “Says ‘je vous aimerai toujours’.” 

French was the first foreign language Waverly had mastered, and this phrase was one she had used often on Nicole. 

“I’ll always love you.” Waverly whispered. 

“Right,” Nicole smiled briefly before turning serious once again. 

She reached behind her, releasing the claps of her bra, slipping it down her shoulders and tossing it on the floor. 

Waverly watched with rapt attention, her mouth going dry. 

Next, she lifted her hands to the waistband of her pants and popped the button. Waverly squeezed her thighs together. It didn’t go unnoticed by Nicole. 

She pulled down the zipper painstakingly slow, seemingly tooth by tooth, and Waverly had to swallow back a whine from escaping her throat. 

Nicole pushed the pants down, toeing off her shoes and stepping out of the slacks. 

_Underwear to match._

“This one,” Nicole said while pulling down on the top of the sheer, black panties, “Geographic coordinates.” She exposed her right hip bone, and just underneath, Waverly saw the numbers. 

“From where?” 

“The field. Our spot.” 

_God dammit._

Nicole hooked the thumb of her other hand into the opposite side of her underwear and waited. 

Waverly looked back up at her, and nodded twice, slowly, nearly unnoticeable. 

With permission granted, the redhead slid the underwear down her thighs, let them drop the rest of the way, landing softly at her feet, and then kicked them aside. 

Then there she was. 

Nicole. 

Waverly’s Nicole. 

Unfairly gorgeous, standing in front of her, fully exposed. She waited patiently while Waverly’s gaze unabashedly roamed over her body. Nicole had always been fit, the definition of her lean muscles (abs in particular) had always made Waverly want to reach out and touch. She sucked in and bit her bottom lip at the sight of the neatly trimmed patch of red hair between her legs, visibly damp even in the low light of the hotel room. 

But then Waverly’s eye caught sight of one last tattoo. Bright red, different from all the other simple black ink dotting the rest of her skin. It was on her left inner thigh, nearly hidden. 

“Nicole...” the redhead followed Waverly’s eyes down in between her legs. 

“Oh right,” Nicole whispered, taking a step towards the bed. Waverly could feel the heat radiating off her body, she could smell her vanilla scent. “Those are your lips.” 

_Jesus fuck._

During her first year of college, Waverly would send Nicole handwritten letters.

_Come on! It’ll be nostalgic, romantic!_

_Whatever you want, baby_. 

At the end of each letter, Waverly would sign her name, then coat her lips in bright red lipstick, and kiss the bottom corner. 

“That was always your favorite place to mark me,” Nicole said lowly, bringing Waverly out of the memory, “So I figured I’d make it permanent.”

Waverly was _definitely_ more than a little turned on, but at the same time, she couldn’t help the inkling of sadness that elbowed its way into her chest. 

“Nicole...” Waverly whispered; concern etched on her face. Her eyes filled with tears and when she blinked, looking up into Nicole’s, the tears slowly slid down her cheeks. Nicole moved forward, crouching in front of her on her knees. Waverly reached out and lightly grabbed Nicole around the neck. 

“Nicole...these are...these are like some form of self-punishment. A daily reminder of...”

“Waverly,” Nicole said softly, her thumb under Waverly’s chin and the rest of her fingers curled behind her neck. “Baby, I don’t need the tattoos to be reminded of you daily.” A look of sad understanding crossed over Waverly’s face. She knew exactly how Nicole felt. “And when I look at them, they make me happy too. Not just sad.” The corner of her mouth twitched up into a small smile. “They remind me of the best years of my life. Ok?”

It was a moment before Waverly finally, albeit somewhat reluctantly, nodded.

“And besides,” Nicole said, reaching down to unlace Waverly’s boots, “Chicks dig scars, right?”

Nicole smirked up at the brunette and Waverly gave her a watery smile. 

“Especially the artistic variety,” she added.

A small laugh escaped Waverly’s lips when Nicole grinned wider, her dimple on display.

“I don’t know, Nicole. If those weren’t my lips, I’d think those scars were a bit too deep. Very damaged goods,” she challenged.

“Well, I am,” the redhead responded before she could stop herself. 

Waverly’s face fell, the playful mood once again turning somber. Nicole sighed. 

“I don’t want to talk about all the damage; everything we should have done or should have said,” Nicole continued, earnestly. “I just want to show you how much I still love you.”

A tingle ran down Waverly’s spine landing squarely between her legs. 

Nicole pulled off the brunette’s shoes and shoved them out of the way. 

“I still love you too,” she said breathily as Nicole’s fingers started to work their way down the buttons of her shirt. 

“Show me? Please?”

Waverly’s grip tightened into the hairs at the base of Nicole’s neck while the thumb of her right hand reached up and brushed across Nicole’s bottom lip. The redhead popped the last button open on Waverly’s blouse and slowly lifted her eyelids to meet the brunette’s gaze. They stared at each other, breathing heavily, hearts thrumming deafeningly in their ears. And then, Waverly spread her legs, and Nicole moved forward to slot in between them. 

————

Waverly awoke the next morning to the sound of her phone buzzing on the bedside table. She assumed it was Wynonna checking on her, so she pushed her face back down into the pillow and snuggled further into Nicole’s embrace. The redhead was still fast asleep, but unconsciously pulled Waverly in tighter. 

When her phone started buzzing again, she sighed in annoyance and gently pulled out of Nicole’s grasp. She allowed herself a moment to turn around and look at her; red hair splayed out on the pillow beneath her head like rays of sun, pale skin, smooth like marble with a few freckles dotting here and there. 

Last night had been unreasonably amazing, and Waverly smiled. She was reaching out to run her fingers through Nicole’s hair when the phone incessantly started buzzing again. 

“God dammit,” she huffed in frustration, and flipped her phone over to glance at the caller; nearly certain she was just going to turn it on silent and get back to rousing the redhead beside her.

But one look at the number had her brow scrunched up in question, and she pressed the green button on the screen.

“Hello?”

The sound of Waverly’s voice stirred Nicole from her sleep. She opened her eyes to find the brunette sitting with her beautifully tan and muscled back exposed to her. She moved to sit up, and Waverly turned around to face her with the phone to her ear. She momentarily glanced down at the redhead’s exposed breasts, unable to help herself. Nicole could hear the muffled sound of a voice on the other end, and she narrowed her eyes.

She reached out to run a hand down Waverly’s side, but the brunette held out a finger and it halted her movement immediately.

“Are you serious?” Waverly said into the phone, turning away from Nicole and getting out of bed. The redhead sat up, nervousness creeping into her bones.

“Of course, I want to. I’m in Ontario, but I can be back in Boston tonight.”

Nicole’s heart instantly sank. 

“Yeah. Oh my God this is amazing!” Waverly turned to face Nicole and at the look of joy on the brunette’s face, Nicole couldn’t help but give a small smile; even though she knew whatever was being said on the other end was not working to her favor.

“Ok, but that’s in an hour and a half,” Waverly said, glancing at the clock by the bed. “No, I can make it. Book it.”

Nicole felt her nose start to burn with impending tears. She tried to fight it, but when Waverly hung up and looked over at her again, the expression on Nicole’s face made her feelings unquestionably evident. It immediately took the edge off of Waverly’s joy. 

She moved back to the bed and sat in front of Nicole, reaching out to put her hand on a sheet-covered knee.

“That was one of my professors. He’s already offered me a job after graduation,” Waverly began to explain. “But there’s a group of archaeologists in a remote area of Peru who are excavating a cave. They’ve uncovered a massive amount of ancient writings and symbols, and they need experts to come and see if it can be interpreted.”

Nicole bit the inside of her cheek and nodded her head, knowing exactly where this was headed.

“He hand-picked me to be in the group. It’s a once in a lifetime kind of gig.”

Nicole smiled softly. “Wow, Waverly, that’s amazing. I’m so proud of you.” Nicole’s warm palm reached up to cup her cheek.

“Thanks,” she said closing her eyes briefly at Nicole’s touch. “Look, I know this is shit timing, like literally couldn’t be any worse, but I’ve got a plane to catch in a little over an hour.”

She paused. Nicole could tell she had more news to give but was nervous about sharing it.

“And…” Nicole offered.

Waverly sighed heavily, “I’ll be gone for the rest of the summer; if not longer.”

“Ok…” Nicole breathed out, not sure what she was supposed to do with any of this information.

“I need to start getting ready,” Waverly said reluctantly with a squeeze to Nicole’s knee. The redhead nodded and smiled briefly, not fooling Waverly in the slightest.

Nicole threw on her shirt as she watched Waverly sweep around the room like a hurricane, hastily grabbing her belongings, and turning her usual morning routine marathon into a five-minute sprint.

When she had finished getting ready, she walked back over to Nicole and placed a light kiss to her lips.

“Nicole, last night was…”

“I know, Baby.”

Waverly leaned in and kissed her again, harder, more passionately. Both women couldn’t help but grab on to one another, growing aroused, wanting to do everything they had done the previous night all over again. But Waverly forced herself to pull away, knowing it was now or never if she was going to make this flight.

“I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too. So much.”

Waverly sighed.

“I’ll call when I can, ok?”

Waverly went to grab her suitcase, turning around one last time to smile at Nicole before the hotel door clicked softly behind her.

“I love you,” Nicole whispered to the air, sighing hard and lowering her head.

————

It was a month before Nicole received a brief email from Waverly. She had sent the message to Wynonna and Willa as well, seemingly trying to kill two, or in this case, three birds with one stone. It didn’t settle well with Nicole even though she realized after reading the message that Waverly had good reason.

The team was in an extremely remote part of The Amazon. The satellite phone was to be used only in emergencies and internet was scarce; even when the team trekked miles outside of the village. They had eventually found a café advertising, among other things, internet, fresh goat milk, and chickens for slaughter. Glancing at each other dubiously, they had decided to take the chance and hand over their money since it was their only hope at reaching the outside world. There was only one archaic looking computer in the corner of the shop, so they took brief turns at writing emails.

Another couple of months passed, and Nicole finally got a call from Waverly, but the connection was poor and the news worse. The team was moving on to Chile the following month for a similar expedition. Peru had gone well, and they had impressed the University and the sponsors backing them. She wouldn’t be back until after the new year. 

_Nicole, I love you._

_What?!_

_Please...wait for me. I know it’s selfish, but..._

_What?!_

Then the call had dropped.

_Love…waiting...selfish...God dammit._

Nicole was obviously so proud of Waverly and would never resent her for the decision to stay, but it felt like their first years of college all over again, except this time, she barely had any contact with the brunette. 

It seemed like Waverly was once again asking her to carry on without her. As if it were so simple. 

The taste, smell, feel of Waverly had never left her memory, but they had begun to dull over time during their years apart. She realized, much to her elation (but eventual sorrow) that after their night in Ontario, it was all back with a vengeance; stronger than ever. There seemed to be a price to pay for loving Waverly, and it came in the form of reoccurring heartbreak. 

Nicole didn’t want to wallow in self-pity any longer, so she decided to go on a little rock-climbing vacation for a couple weeks. She had high hopes that it would clear her head and help suppress her grief once more. 

And so, Nicole got on the plane to Nevada. 

And then Nicole met Shae while bouldering in Red Rock Canyons.

And then Nicole found herself in a Las Vegas wedding chapel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooff...amirite? I can sense all of the eye rolls. 
> 
> Chapter 4 is in the works, and it will be based mostly, if not solely, in the present. I've already written the story's ending, but it might be a little too sugary-sweet. We'll see ;)


	4. Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, pals. This took a while, sorry - was really trying to sort out how I thought both Waverly and Nicole would feel about this reunion. Hope I did it justice.

**Waverly 15, Nicole 16**

“Bonfire, bonfire, bonfire!” Waverly jumped around Nicole as she washed her dinner plate in the kitchen sink.

Nicole laughed. “Alright there, Sparky!”

She couldn’t help but find the brunette’s excitement contagious.

Curtis always lit a big bonfire on the first chilly night at the end of summer vacation. Waverly loved the tradition of it and looked forward to it every year.

Nicole put her plate on the drying rack and turned to face the brunette, wiping her damp hands on her jeans before grabbing Waverly around the waist, mid-jump. She pulled her flush to her chest and smiled down at her. Hazel eyes sparkled back up at her and Nicole’s heart clenched. 

She still couldn’t believe that she and Waverly were together. 

A couple. 

All those years of quiet pining and ache and now she could kiss her any time she wanted. And every time she did? _My God_. She had to keep herself from floating off the ground and disappearing into the clouds of elation above. Better yet, when their lips touched, Nicole could tell that the sentiment was fully reciprocated. Knowing that Waverly wanted her just as much as she wanted Waverly was like Christmas morning. Every. Single. Day. 

The transition from friends to girlfriends had been an easy one, and much to their surprise, telling their family and friends was a giant relief for all parties. 

_“Oh thank Christ,” Wynonna breathed out when Waverly and Nicole came home one day, holding hands and nervously glancing at each other while standing in front of the older brunette. Waverly finally blurted out that they were dating. “We were all starting to think we’d have to tell you ourselves.”_

_“Wait what?” Waverly questioned._

_“You two have been in love your whole damn lives. It’s about time you started to bone,” Wynonna said with a shrug._

_“Oh my God! Wynonna!” Waverly turned crimson and buried her face behind Nicole’s arm._

_“We’re not...we haven’t...” Nicole started to defend Waverly’s honor, but Wynonna just smirked and walked away._

Nicole smiled at the memory.

“Go grab your guitar,” she said and kissed Waverly’s nose. “I’ll meet you outside with blankets.” 

Waverly grinned and clapped excitedly, releasing her hold on Nicole and running up the stairs. 

\---------

The fire was starting to die down. Only Waverly, Nicole and Wynonna remained outside. The rest of the group had gone home or back inside for the night long ago. Waverly was sitting in between Nicole’s legs on a flannel blanket with the redhead’s arms wrapped tightly around her waist watching the flames jump and dance as if they were individually vying for her attention. Wynonna looked on as Nicole turned her face into the crook of Waverly’s neck and kissed her below her ear. Waverly smiled happily and visibly squeezed Nicole harder. 

Wynonna downed the last gulp of her beer and stood up, deciding she’d had enough of third wheeling it for one night. 

“Hey Wy?” Waverly asked, looking up as the older brunette stood. “Can we stay out here tonight?” 

She felt Nicole gulp behind her and curl her fingers slightly into the soft fabric of her shirt just below her bellybutton. She clenched her jaw as a flood of warmth enveloped her body.

Wynonna smiled knowingly and nodded. 

They used to camp out in the field a lot as kids. Telling ghost stories and roasting marshmallows over the fire. As they got older, they had done it less frequently. 

“I’ll put the tent and walkie-talkie out on the back porch for you,” Wynonna said, recalling the standard protocol they had set forth many years ago. The walkie-talkie was used to ensure someone in the house could be reached if a creature of the night got too close.

“Thanks,” Waverly gave a small smile and looked back at the flames.

Nicole looked up, correctly assuming that she’d find the older Earp’s eyes boring into her. Nicole gave a nearly imperceptible nod in the low light, but Wynonna caught it, and it was enough for her. 

“Channel 4 on the talkie,” Wynonna said before turning to leave. 

\---------

Nicole ran up to the house a little while later to gather their supplies. Wynonna had included a thermos of hot chocolate and Nicole smiled at the rare sign of thoughtfulness. When she returned, Waverly was stoking the fire and adding a few more logs; enough to get them a couple more hours of additional warmth. Nicole didn’t question it and went about setting up the tent. When she was satisfied with the soft bed of blankets she had made, she poked her head out of the tent flap and told Waverly as much. The brunette crawled inside, discarding her shoes, and zipping the big screen down, still allowing the flames of the fire to be seen from inside the tiny cocoon of canvas. 

“You put too many logs on. We’ll be up for another couple of hours until it burns out,” Nicole finally pointed out.

Waverly just smiled and leaned in to kiss the redhead. 

“It was my intention all along,” Waverly whispered into her lips, “to be up for another couple of hours.” 

That was how Waverly found herself under the partial weight of the redhead above her. Nicole was kissing her deeply, both exploring with their tongues and teeth, hands roaming freely.

They had previously done some touching; both over and underneath the shield of clothing. Nicole had even made Waverly come the week prior with just the rhythmic press of her thigh over her jean-clad center. It had initially surprised them both and it was all Nicole could do not die of ecstasy on the spot. But when Waverly had become fully embarrassed at her apparent overstimulation, Nicole had to repeatedly tell her it was the hottest thing she’d ever witnessed. Since then, they both knew what they were building up to once they had another moment alone. The anticipation was almost more than either could bear.

“Nicole,” Waverly panted in between kisses, and the redhead hummed in acknowledgement, but continued to move down to kiss her jawline, trailing down to her neck. Nicole’s hand traveled south and pushed up the brunette’s shirt to expose the snap of her jeans. 

“Nicole,” Waverly tried again, but then she felt the button pop open as it gave under Nicole’s touch. The pull between her legs ran deep.

“Fuck,” she whined breathily. “Wait.” 

Nicole reeled back instantly as if Waverly had burned her and she rocked up to sit on her heels, fully disengaging. Waverly took a second to commit to memory the way her disheveled red locks were illuminated by the fire behind her, her lips swollen and glistening seductively, her chest rising and falling rapidly with the anticipation of desire being filled. 

“Come back,” Waverly said once she was satisfied with the level of detail to the photo memory she had created. She reached out to her, but Nicole resisted. 

“I’m sorry. Was I going too fast? We don’t have to do this. We can just cuddle. I got carried away,” she was rambling nervously, and Waverly smiled. 

“Nicole, come here,” she pleaded again, and the redhead timidly bent back down after another moment’s hesitation, hovering over the brunette cautiously. Waverly reached behind Nicole’s head and threaded her fingers into the baby hairs at the base of her neck, pulling slightly and forcing Nicole further down. 

“I just wanted to tell you that I love you,” Waverly whispered. 

Nicole furrowed her brow. “I love you too,” she said immediately in response. It was nothing new. The two had been saying that to each other for years now. 

“No,” Waverly looked down at Nicole’s lips and then back up into her eyes. “I’m _in love_ with you,” she emphasized. “Like ‘want to marry you, have all your babies, die old with you’ kind of in love.” 

Nicole smiled dimple-popping wide and let out a huff of laughter. 

“Well, welcome to the club, Waves. Cause I’ve been ‘want to marry you, have babies with you, die old together’ kind of in love with you for, oh I don’t know, like a decade now.” 

Waverly’s eyes turned to crescent moons as she grinned.

Nicole smiled and then bent down to capture her lips once more. 

\-------

Wynonna was fast asleep when the walkie-talkie crackled to life. She sat up in bed, groggy, but alarmed and reached for the ancient two-way-radio. 

She was about to place her thumb over the call button when she heard a faint moan come from the other end. Her eyes widened.

Nicole’s voice came through softly.

“Waves, baby, I’m gonna…I’m gonna…”

“Oh my God!” Wynonna yelled and turned it off before tossing the radio across the room, landing like a brick with a loud thud on the carpet.

Wynonna covered her ears and groaned in horror.

_I don’t give a shit if they get eaten by a bear!_

**Waverly 24, Nicole 25**

Waverly hadn’t sounded angry when Nicole told her about Las Vegas. 

It was worse. 

She sounded sad. She sounded hurt. 

“I don’t think this should be so hard, Nicole.”

The redhead gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. 

“I’m starting to think that this, that we, just aren’t...”

“Waverly, please.” 

“No. I can’t. I can’t keep doing this.”

She sounded tired. She sounded resigned. 

It took a few weeks for Waverly’s sadness to wholly and truly turn to anger. And when it finally did, there was no turning back. She was angry that she was once again heartbroken to the point of sickness. She was angry at the universe for the shitty circumstance of it all, and even though she wasn’t angry at Nicole per se, the universe was nearly impossible to direct one’s anger to. She found the only way to deal with the pain was to somehow make it all Nicole’s fault. Nicole moved away, Nicole never came for her, Nicole seduced her in Ontario, and Nicole nearly married someone else. 

If only she and Nicole had never...

————

“Yeah I could have told you that wasn’t going to go over well,” Wynonna said, munching on potato chips loudly in Nicole’s ear, making no effort to move the mouthpiece away from her face. 

Once again, Nicole had tried in vain to reach Waverly.

When she had first told Wynonna about Vegas, while Waverly was still in Chile, the conversation had also gone poorly. But Wynonna had borne witness to Nicole’s state of mind after the phone call where she thought Waverly was breaking it off again. Wynonna had actually been the one to suggest she go on a vacation. She couldn’t deal with any more calls that ended in tears, Nicole’s or Waverly’s, and yet, here they were all over again. 

“What should I do? Do you know where she is? Is she still in Boston?” Nicole sniffled on the other end. 

“Nicole...”

“I’ll figure it out, make it work.”

Nicole sounded frantic. 

“Nicole,” Wynonna said a little more firmly. 

“I just can’t live without her all over again. I love her. I miss her. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I would never hurt her on purpose. I was just...I love her so much.”

“Nicole!” Wynonna yelled into the receiver, making the redhead wince. 

“Jesus, what?” She sniffed again. 

“She’s gone.”

“What?” 

She could hear the rising panic in her voice. 

“She left again. To Italy. She’s gone.” 

Wynonna closed her eyes and braced when she heard the sharp intake of breath cut through the silence on the other end. 

**Present**

**The Following Week**

“You were just going to waltz back into town without telling anyone?” Wynonna asked, holding her phone to her ear with her shoulder while she polished her gun. 

Nicole knew this phone call was coming. Nedley would tell Chrissy, Chrissy would tell Wynonna, and Wynonna would tell Waverly. 

“No. I don’t know. Maybe. It’s just been crazy here. Trying to sell my house after just having bought it is proving challenging, wrapping things up at work, and packing,” Nicole looked around her living room at the pile of boxes. “Jesus, so much packing.”

Wynonna hummed in acceptance of Nicole’s excuses. 

There were a few moments of silence. 

“I know she’s there, Wynonna.” Nicole finally confessed, knowing that’s what Wynonna was wanting to ask.

The brunette’s eyes narrowed as a grin spread across her face.

“I knew it!” Wynonna jabbed a finger in the air. “But how? Who told you? Have you been stalking my baby sister this whole time?” 

Nicole rolled her eyes and sighed heavily.

“No, Wynonna. I haven’t been stalking Waverly.”

“Then how?” 

“I have my ways.”

“Who are you? Al fucking Capone?” 

“Wynonna,” Nicole said, trying to bring an end to her questioning. “I’ll be there next Wednesday.”

“Bonfire on Saturday?” Wynonna asked hopefully.

Nicole paused for a second.

“Oh ummm. I don’t know. I don’t think that’s how...”

“She won’t be there. She has plans.”

“Oh,” Nicole replied softly.

_Like a date?_

She resisted the urge to ask.

“Okay. Yeah. Ok, I guess.” 

There was a long enough pause on the other end of the line for Nicole to question if the call had been dropped. She was just about to ask if Wynonna was still on the line when the brunette’s voice pierced the silence. 

“Nicole, did Nedley offer you that job out of blue or did you ask for it once you found out she was here?” Wynonna prodded. 

It was Nicole’s turn to stay silent. 

“That’s what I thought,” Wynonna said before hanging up the phone. 

**Present**

**Wednesday**

“Bonfire this weekend?” Wynonna asked when Waverly came home that evening and sat down to dinner. Waverly’s fork paused midway to her mouth briefly and then she continued eating. 

“You need to turn that frown upside down, sis.”

Waverly continued to eat, ignoring the conversation.

She’d spent the past week trying to sort through her emotions. It had put her in an undeniably bad mood. 

There was the part of her that was excited to see the person that she had spent most of her life loving. The person that knew all of her secrets. The person that knew what she needed even before she knew herself. The person that knew how to make her feel things like no one else had ever been able to since. 

Then there was the part of her that was still angry at how it had ended. Angry that she’d spent most of her adult life trying to get over her. Angry that she never really had. She never really could.

And that lead to fear. Fear of reliving all of the pain. Fear of opening that never-healed wound and going through it all over again.

Then there was the overwhelming fear that Nicole didn’t even plan on entertaining the idea, that this had absolutely nothing to do with her, that Nicole had actually managed to move on in a way that Waverly never had. It caused her chest to ache. 

The fear and anger always won out in the end, and the demons of the past were causing her such anxiety that she found herself, at times, wishing that Nicole would just stay away. 

“She knows you’re here,” Wynonna said softly, and Waverly immediately looked up.

“What? How?” 

“I don’t know,” Wynonna continued. “I swear I didn’t tell her. But she knows.” 

**Waverly 24, Nicole 25**

“You can’t run away again,” Wynonna said firmly.

“Again?” Waverly asked incredulously. “She left me first!” 

“She didn’t leave you, Waverly. She had to move. You were kids.”

“I had to as well!" Waverly threw her arms out hysterically. “I had to take the job in Peru. You know I had to!”

“Okay, you’re right,” Wynonna conceded, and Waverly’s shoulders relaxed.

A moment passed between them.

“But this time you’re running,” Wynonna said softly, and Waverly looked up at her from the large pile of clothes on top of her bed. "Just like..." 

“Don't you dare," Waverly warned. "I turned down what was probably the biggest opportunity of my life to come back here only to find out that she married someone else while I was gone,” Waverly said lowly through gritted teeth. 

“You could go find her, Waverly. You could go be with her. She didn’t marry that woman. She was fucked up. I’ve never heard her so crazy.”

Waverly ignored Wynonna’s pleas and kept packing her suitcase. 

“God dammit, don’t get on that plane to Europe, Waverly. Change your ticket. Go to Ontario instead.”

She was desperate, begging, something she never did.

“What are you so afraid of?!?” Wynonna screamed out suddenly, causing Waverly to flinch. She still didn’t look up, continuing to fold her sweaters instead.

“Well, you want to know what I’m afraid of Waverly? I’m afraid of you both never seeing this through. You have something special, baby girl. Beyond soul mates, beyond any of that mushy shit. And if I die having never seen the two of you together again, I will die sad, and so will she, and so will _YOU_. And that’s just a big fucking shame.”

“Get out,” Waverly whispered.

“What?” Wynonna said breathlessly, trying to calm her rage.

Waverly finally looked back up at her, and the look in her eyes scared Wynonna.

“I said, get out,” Waverly repeated.

Wynonna huffed, slumped her shoulders, resigned, and turned to leave. 

She slammed the door behind her, causing Waverly to flinch again even though she knew it was coming.

Waverly sat down on her bed amongst the scattered piles of clothes, amongst the scattered pieces of her heart, and cried.

**Present**

**Saturday**

The flames from the fire were at their highest when Waverly noticed the headlights from an approaching car. The group had been gathered since just before dusk, so they were all a few drinks in by the time the police cruiser pulled up, leaving a trail of settling dust in its wake. 

“Why’s Daddy here?” Chrissy asked as she leaned forward in her foldout chair. 

Waverly slowly turned to face Wynonna. She knew. In the pit of her stomach, she knew. Wynonna just shrugged and gave Waverly a lopsided smile. 

When Nicole emerged, she was met with whoops and hollers, and a big smile spread across her face at seeing her friends once again. She held up a bottle of Jim Beam and walked toward the group. 

“Hot damn, Haught. When the hell did you grow up?” Wynonna yelled out. 

She was in uniform, after having just gotten off of her first shift. At the sight of her, all of Waverly’s old feelings, good and bad, come rushing back unnervingly fast. It nearly took her breath away. If Waverly hadn’t been sitting down, she was sure her knees would have given out, and she didn’t even want to think about the deep pull she felt in between her legs at seeing Nicole in uniform. 

Nicole stepped further into the light of the flames, and when her eyes landed on Waverly, her smile immediately fell. The two stared at each other for what felt like hours. It was painfully obvious that neither woman had expected to see the other just yet. 

The group went silent, the only sound coming from the pop and crackle of the large fire. 

Nicole cleared her throat and glanced over at Wynonna, narrowing her eyes at her apologetic look. She turned back to Waverly. The golden flames were lighting up her angelic face. She was so fucking beautiful. 

“Hey,” Nicole managed to breath out. “I didn’t think you’d...”

“Be here?” Waverly finished the sentence for her. “You must mean at this particular gathering because I KNOW you knew otherwise about my being back here.” There was an edge to her voice that Nicole recognized, even after all this time, as impending anger.

The group grew more uncomfortable at the surprise reunion happening in front of them. 

Dolls pointed into the distance. “I gotta go check on the...” he started to walk away, and Doc, Jeremy and Robin followed silently. Wynonna gave a jerk of her head to Chrissy and Willa, and the three women retreated into the darkness. 

When the two of them were finally alone, Waverly turned to the table next to her, picking up the nearly empty bottle of whiskey and, against her better judgement, disregarded the accompanying shot glass. She took a long gulp straight from the bottle. 

Nicole really wished the whisky in her own hand was opened. 

“Why didn’t you call?” Waverly finally asked to the flames. Nicole furrowed her brow. 

“You wanted me to ask for permission?” Nicole questioned, unable to help herself. 

Waverly whipped her head up and glared at her. 

She had pondered this emotion days prior after she found herself angry _again_ and wondering how Nicole could possibly have the nerve to come back here. Waverly was stubborn, but not entirely unreasonable and she realized that she had no claim on Purgatory. Nicole had grown up here too, still had friends here. Her childhood home was even still owned by her father; rented out to random family after family much to Waverly’s dismay. She had as much right to come back here as she did. 

“I wanted a little warning,” Waverly coughed out indignantly. 

“Yeah that would have been nice,” Nicole said under her breath obviously referring to their current predicament. 

“You should have known I’d be here tonight,” she spat. 

“She told me you wouldn’t be,” Nicole protested before immediately realizing it was the wrong thing to say. 

“So, you were planning on avoiding me? How long did you think that would last?” 

Nicole’s eyes widened. 

“No. I wanted to get here. Get settled again before...reaching out,” Nicole tried to clarify, sighing heavily. “I didn’t know what to expect.” 

“You could have found out. With a call.”

“Yeah but you know how much I love surprises.” Nicole said with a slight laugh mixed with a hint of sarcasm, trying to lift the mood. 

“You hate surprises.”

“That’s you.”

“Right.”

Waverly paused, but not long enough to carefully consider her words. Besides, she was already a few shots in, her tongue was loose, her thoughts clouded, and her heart, on fire. 

“Well, surprise,” she said, standing up and stepping toward Nicole. She leaned in close; close enough that she caught a whiff of vanilla dipped donuts. Her mouth watered and she hated herself for it. “I think you should have stayed in Ontario.”

Nicole took a step back as if Waverly’s words had physically struck her. The brunette could see the pain in her eyes, and for a split second she regretted it. But then her heart flared with anger again, or was it hurt, or was it longing, she didn’t know anymore. So many emotions had been swirling and mixing in her heart over Nicole for so many years that it was hard to tell them apart. But they had been pent up for far longer than Waverly wanted to admit, and like a volcano nearing eruption, there was no stopping the explosion. 

Waverly downed another gulp of whiskey, not even wincing at the burn as it went down her throat. It was nothing compared to the burn in her heart anyway. 

“In true form, you made another horrible lapse in judgement,” she spat out.

“Excuse me?” Nicole challenged, feeling her own frustration brim to the surface.

“You up and marry some random chick in Las Vegas, and now you come back here because you were offered a _job_.” Waverly stressed the last word, trying to get across the insult. 

Nicole swallowed hard and licked her lips, looking into Waverly’s eyes, unsure of how they had gotten here.

“I didn’t marry her Waverly. You know that,” she said quietly, trying to control her anger. The only thing she could think of in the moment was to defend herself. “And also...”

“Tomato, potato.” Waverly waved her hand dismissively, interrupting the redhead. Nicole felt her veins sizzle.

“First of all, that’s not the saying, and second, it definitely doesn’t apply here.”

Waverly gave a halfhearted shrug, seemingly bored with the conversation. It miffed Nicole to the point of rage. 

“And third, Waverly,” Nicole spat her name with such venom behind her voice that it scared the brunette, “I didn’t need your _permission_ to come back here. Not everything is about you.” 

Waverly’s shoulders immediately slumped. A moment passed between the two. The brunette looked like she was nearly in tears. “Yeah, Nicole,” Waverly finally said softly, “You’ve been making that clear for years now.” 

She turned to walk away, and Nicole’s anger was immediately replaced with panic. This wasn’t, this _isn’t_ how this is supposed to go. 

“I couldn’t chase you all over the fucking world, Waverly!” she raised her voice in frustration, and the brunette quickly turned around to face Nicole once more, causing the redhead to step back.

“You didn’t chase me anywhere!” Waverly shouted. 

The officer looked around, eyes wide, arms spread out.

“I’m here aren’t I?!” she said in defense before she could stop herself. 

Waverly was taken aback. Her eyes widened and Nicole snapped her mouth shut, visibly swallowing.

The elation Waverly felt at Nicole’s admission was confusing. It was also fleeting. She wasn’t going to allow herself to believe it. 

“Don’t lie to me, Nicole. Don’t act like you came back for me,” Waverly spat. “You came back for a job all the while knowing I was here too. I’m just an afterthought. It’s just convenient for you that I’m here too. And that I’m single. And that…”

_Stop here._

“And that you look so fucking good in that stupid fucking uniform!”

_Shit. Too much whiskey._

\-------

Wynonna grimaced at the raised voices in the distance.

“It would appear that operation Wayhaught is backfiring.” Doc said with a glance over to Wynonna.

She turned to him with a scowl on her face, visible even in the low light of the evening.

“Yeah, thank you, Captain Obvious,” Wynonna said and let out a deep sigh. 

“What’s going on?”

Everyone startled at Gus’ sudden appearance. “Why aren’t you all around the fire?”

Before anyone could answer, Gus heard the commotion in the distance. She squinted her eyes.

“Wynonna,” Gus turned to her with a look of annoyance written across her face.

“You automatically assume this was _my_ doing?” she pointed to herself in shock.

“Wynonna,” Gus said again but with more irritation in her voice. Wynonna squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the scolding, but Gus just stormed off towards the literal and figurative fire.

\--------

Nicole stepped closer to Waverly.

“Waves, I,” Nicole said softly. Her hand itched with the urge to reach out to Waverly, but she resisted. 

“Don’t,” Waverly cut her off and shook her head, swiping a stray tear from her cheek. Nicole closed her mouth once more. “I’m not going to let you ruin my life again.”

The sound of footsteps had them both turning in the direction of the impending approach.

“What’s going on here?” Gus asked as she stepped into the light of the fire.

Waverly turned away from Gus and looked Nicole in the eyes. “Nothing, Gus,” she said firmly. “Nothing is going on here, and nothing ever will.”

She turned on her heels and walked away, finally letting the tears held at bay under Nicole’s gaze freely run down her cheeks. Nicole watched her receding silhouette until she had disappeared into the house.

“Fuck!” Nicole whispered under her breath, forgetting Gus’ presence momentarily. She plopped down in the closest fold out chair and put her face in her hands. “Sorry,” she mumbled. 

“It’s good to see you, Nicole,” Gus said softly, seemingly ignoring the language she usually admonished.

Nicole dropped her hands from her face and gave a sad smile. 

“You too, Gus. Thank you,” Nicole sighed deeply. “Wish she could say the same.” Nicole tilted her head up in the direction of the house. 

“She was caught off guard, hon. And she’s been drinking. Wynonna should have known better.”

Nicole bit the inside of her cheek and raised her eyebrows. 

“I don’t know, Gus. Something tells me that’s how that conversation would have gone regardless,” Nicole’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “I should go,” she said dejectedly, rising from the chair. 

“Promise me you won’t give up too easily, Nicole.”

She scoffed. “Easily?!?” 

Gus put up her hand to try and calm the redhead.

“That’s rich. I’ve been in love with the same woman for nearly my entire life, I uprooted everything I’ve known for the past 10 years to come back here...”

Gus cut her off. “Nicole, don’t act like the pain you’ve felt for so long has been one-sided.”

The redhead snapped her mouth shut and attempted to swallow down the insurmountable lump in her throat. 

Gus continued, “You’re BOTH victims of circumstances that took you away from each other. And don’t make the mistake of thinking she hasn’t made sacrifices too.”

Nicole narrowed her eyes.

“You two need to sit down and tell each other everything. Once and for all. If you thought you could come back here and start fresh, I’m sorry to say that you’re sorely mistaken. You have too much history together for that. You have to go back before you can move forward.” 

Nicole sighed. She had always held out hope that she and Waverly would eventually find their way back to each other. She had spent the past decade believing that fate would somehow intervene. What she had never allowed herself to consider, until she was watching Waverly retreating form only minutes before, was the alternative. It terrified her to her very core because...

Nicole turned to Gus; her voice small.

“What if I tell her everything and it’s still not enough?” 

**Present**

**Sunday**

Waverly trudged down the old, squeaky wooden stairs the next morning. Her head pounding and stomach a little sick. No doubt a combination of the booze and what she had said to Nicole the night before. 

Wynonna and Gus had both tried to check on her after Nicole left, but she had locked the bedroom door and refused to open it.

She was ashamed and embarrassed. 

When she reached the kitchen, their idle chatter stopped. Waverly avoided eye contact and went straight to the cabinet for a glass, filing it to the brim with tap water and gulping until she had nearly finished it, she reached out to get a refill. 

“Well, you had no problem with _that_ tall glass of water,” Wynonna teased. Waverly paused with her back to the two women, hovering over the sink and looking out the window. Gus elbowed Wynonna in the ribs.

“Ow! Jesus!” Wynonna mouthed dramatically to Gus.

“Do you want something to eat, hon?” Gus asked quietly after a few moments silence. Waverly still didn’t answer. 

Gus and Wynonna exchanged nervous glances.

“Why did you do that Wynonna?” Waverly finally asked softly, still looking out the window.

The older brunette looked to Gus, but she just pushed her lips out and raised her eyebrows as if to imply that the question was valid.

“Oh ummm, well you know, rip the band aid off, and get to boning.”

“Jesus, Wynonna!” Gus shook her head.

Waverly finally turned around.

“She didn’t come back here for me, Wynonna! You embarrassed me in front of our friends. In front of her!”

Wynonna wasn’t buying it. She rolled her eyes, exasperated.

“Baby girl, and I say this with total sincerity, if you believe for one second that that sad, puppy-dog of a woman didn’t come back here with her tail between her legs for you, then you’re a fucking idiot.” 

Waverly looked over at Gus, but she had her head down, pinching the bridge of her nose, not agreeing, but not disputing either.

**Present**

**Wednesday**

“Hey kiddo, what can I do for you?” Nedley asked when Waverly appeared in his office door that afternoon. He still spoke to Waverly like she was an eight-year-old. It was a habit too old to break for the people of this town who had watched trot around in diapers.

“I was looking for Wynonna,” Waverly lied while tentatively looking down at her hands and worrying her bottom lip. 

_No wonder he still speaks to me like I’m a child._

Waverly had avoided town for days. Only going to school in the morning and coming straight home at night. She was doing her best to not run in to the redhead, but she knew she couldn’t keep that up for long. She’d have to go out for groceries eventually. 

_If only Purgatory had the meal delivery programs like the big city…_

She shook her head at herself, finally deciding she needed to at least apologize, and maybe try to talk to Nicole without being under the influence of copious amounts of whiskey.

“She’s out with Dolls. You can wait?” He offered, pointing to the couch in the corner.

“No. That’s okay. Thanks.”

She turned to leave but stopped herself mid revolution with a hand to the door frame. She pivoted back around and Nedley looked up from his paperwork once more. 

“Why’d you call her?” Waverly blurted out. 

“What? Who?”

She stepped further into the office.

“Nicole. What made you call her to ask if she’d come back?” Waverly clarified and Nedley furrowed his brow, bushy eyebrows nearly touching, finally catching on to the real purpose of her impromptu visit. 

He leaned back in his chair. 

“I didn’t,” he said slowly.

“What do you mean?” Waverly asked, her palms suddenly getting a little clammy. 

“She called me, Waverly.”

“What?” 

Nedley sighed and put down his pen, leaned in on his desk and intertwined his fingers. 

“I’ve been following her career. She’s been doing so well in Ontario I figured she’d never want to come back here.” Nedley shrugged and gave a half smile. “But she called me, clear out of the blue one day, and asked if I needed any backup.”

Waverly’s heart hammered in her chest. 

“It wasn’t long after you got back to town, actually,” he said, raising his eyebrows, realizing he was revealing news to himself just as much as he was to Waverly. The look on his face was too genuine to be anything but truthful.

Nedley continued to chat on, but the sound of his voice had muffled. She didn’t hear another word. 

\-------

“It still doesn’t really prove anything,” Waverly informed her dinner plate as she pushed a single green pea around aimlessly.

The four women were sitting around the table that evening listening to Waverly’s account of her talk with Nedley.

“Maybe she just got tired of Ontario all of sudden and needed a change of pace? And it’s just coincidental that it wasn’t long after I got back here too,” Waverly said, unyielding in her quest for reasons to doubt.

“Oh my God if this were any more obvious it would kick you in the touchhole!” Wynonna groaned. 

Willa stifled a laugh and Gus rolled her eyes, no energy left to scold, knowing it wouldn’t do any good anyway.

But Waverly remained pensive.

“Why wouldn’t she just tell me?” Waverly questioned softly, abandoning the pea stabbed to the end tine of her fork, hunching over on the table with her arms crossed.

The three older women took turns glancing at one another, silently trying to figure out who would answer her question. 

“I think she kinda tried, right?” Willa offered hesitantly, deciding she had drawn the short straw. “You just didn’t believe her?” Phrasing the statement as a question to lighten the blow.

“You were too busy drunkenly yelling at her,” Wynonna interjected bluntly.

Gus and Willa gave her disapproving looks, but Waverly was too lost in thought to notice.

She took a moment to try and wrap her brain around the fact that the woman she loved, no, _loves_ was only a few short blocks away. For the past ten years they had been separated by thousands of miles and all Waverly had dreamed of for the longest time was having her close. 

“Do you remember, before I left for Italy, you asked me what I was so afraid of,” Waverly asked softly, glancing up at Wynonna.

She nodded silently, and Waverly looked back down. 

The three women eyed each other again, and Gus shook her head slightly, sensing that they should listen quietly for fear of scaring Waverly into silence again.

“I don’t think I really knew. When I went to Europe it was easy enough to blame it on anger and not see it as fear, but now that she’s here…”

Waverly trailed off, gathering her thoughts. 

“Ever since she moved away in high school, I’ve had this hope, this belief that we’d be together again. Finish what we started. Even when we broke up in college, I think the only thing that kept me going was the fact that it couldn’t really be the end. I refused to believe it.”

“But what if we get back together now, as adults, after all these years, and we don’t…we aren’t…”

Her voice sounded so small.

“What if it’s really the end? What if we were always just supposed to stay friends, but we can’t go back now?” 

Wynonna scoffed unable to stay silent any longer.

“Bullshit, Babygirl. You two were never fiends. And you sure as shit aren’t starting now.”

**Present**

**Friday**

Waverly walked out of her classroom that evening after finishing up her last lesson plan for the following week. She looked down digging through her cavernous purse for her keys and used her body weight to push the door open out to the parking lot.

She ran right into something solid, but soft, smelled like vanilla.

_Oh shit._

“Oof,” Nicole said, the wind knocked out of her by the tiny brunette.

Waverly looked up apologetically into soft brown eyes.

“Oh, sorry,” Waverly said softly, unable to tear her eyes away, warming at the proximity of their bodies.

The two women starred at each other for a moment, and then both simultaneously looked away embarrassed. Nicole slowly removed her hands from their grasp on Waverly’s arms.

She felt the loss immediately, realizing how good it felt to have Nicole’s hands on her again for the first time in years.

Nicole cleared her throat and lifted her arm, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at nothing in particular. 

“I was driving by, saw the light on, and figured it was kind of late for anyone to still be in school for a Friday evening. I just wanted to check on my way home.”

Waverly realized she was seeing Nicole in uniform again, heading home at the end of her shift. Standing there looking professional and gorgeous. The fucking audacity.

“I’ll let you get out of here,” Nicole said, taking a step back, nearly turning to leave.

“I spoke to Nedley,” Waverly said quickly, trying to prolong the moment.

Nicole paused, unsure.

“He uhhh…I asked him…He told me…” Waverly fumbled, and Nicole gave a partially confused, but amused face. “He told me that you called him,” she managed to blurt out. “About the job. You reached out to him.” 

Nicole raised her eyebrows and puckered her lips. “And in a shocking turn of events, you chose to believe someone?” she questioned. 

_Ouch. Okay, deserved that._

Nicole’s mouth turned up into a tiny grin at the look on Waverly’s face, and she felt herself relax a little.

The radio on Nicole’s shoulder crackled to life, startling them both. 

“Haught, this is dispatch, are you close to the Loblaw residence?”

The redhead rolled her eyes before looking back at Waverly. She shrugged apologetically and reached up to press her thumb against the mic.

“I have to go,” she said and turned to leave.

“Do you want to get coffee?” Waverly blurted out, and Nicole stopped dead in her tracks, turning back around, hand still grasping her mic. “With...with me?” Waverly added hesitantly, as if she’d need further clarification. 

Nicole stood there for a second, studying Waverly’s face. She felt the hot burn of a blush creeping up her neck at the scrutiny. 

“You don’t have t...” Waverly started to give her an out.

“I go in at 11 tomorrow,” Nicole said, cutting her off. “Meet me at 10? At The Bean?”

Nicole’s radio interrupted them again. “Officer Haught. What’s your location?” 

“Right. Yeah. I’ll be there,” Waverly affirmed quickly before either could change their minds. 

Nicole nodded her head once, then pressed the mic.

“Haught here. Two-minute ETA,” she said as she walked off. 

Waverly got in her jeep and immediately slumped into the seat letting out a heavy sigh. Things had never been painfully awkward when it came to the two of them. She didn’t like the way the itchy sweater of unfamiliarity felt on her skin.

**Present**

**Saturday**

Waverly had awoken much earlier than she normally would on a Saturday, but the instant her brain came out of its sleep induced haze, she remembered her coffee date with Nicole and sat up with a start. 

Two hours felt like a lifetime away, but Waverly did her best to keep her nerves to a low hum, constant, but not distracting enough to keep her from the task at hand: finding the right outfit. 

She finally decided on something simple with only a half hour to go before meeting Nicole. Tight, high-waisted dark jeans and a maroon crop top with a V-neck and sleeves that tightly wrapped just above her lean biceps. Nicole had always loved her arms. Seeking them out whenever they touched, running her fingers up and down at any opportunity. Waverly left her hair down and wavy, applied a light shade of lipstick and looped an assortment of necklaces around her neck. 

When she stepped inside the coffee shop, she glanced around and spotted Nicole in the corner booth by the window. It was a coveted spot. 

She smiled at Nicole, receiving just the slightest pull at the corner of Nicole’s mouth in return, but they locked eyes and maintained the hold until Waverly was sitting in front of her. 

“How’d you manage the best seat in the house?” Waverly questioned after she’d removed her coat. She watched as Nicole stole a glance at her exposed arms.

She wrapped her hands around the steaming coffee cup in front of her and gestured with her head to behind the bar.

“Lindy made some poor teenagers evacuate. She told them the best seats are reserved for the law.”

Waverly smiled, eyes turning to crescent moons.

“Already benefitting from the perks of the job.”

Nicole shrugged, playing it off. 

“I think it helped when I also told her I was meeting you.” 

As if on cue, Lindy saddled up to the table, a huge grin on her face. 

“Well I’ll be. I had hoped for it but didn’t know if I’d ever see the day where you two were sitting in here together again.” 

Waverly stole a glance at Nicole hoping to catch her reaction, but she found the redhead’s eyes on her as well. 

“You two were so darling. Holding hands, so in love.”

Nicole cleared her throat.

“Um Lindy, can I get a coffee? Two sugars with oat milk?” Waverly asked in a high-pitched voice.

“Sure thing, Sugar.” 

Once alone again, the two women stared at each other. Waverly could feel Nicole challenging her, asserting her dominance, and putting the onus on Waverly to begin the conversation. Nicole wasn’t going to look away first.

Waverly cleared her throat. “I haven’t seen you in anything but this uniform since you got here.”

The uniform’s top two buttons were undone, showing off more skin than Waverly thought was probably allowed. Nicole always did like to break minor rules but uphold the ones that truly mattered.

“You didn’t mind it the other night.” she stated. “You haven’t even seen me with the tie on.” 

Lindy came back, placing Waverly’s mug of coffee in front of her.

The visual did things to Waverly. Those top two buttons would, of course, be done up, but the image of Nicole in a tie, looking smart, having something for Waverly to grab on to, drag her around by.

_Jesus._

Waverly gulped and picked up her coffee mug, taking a sip, hoping it was hiding her blush. 

It wasn’t.

Nicole took full advantage.

“You going to verbalize what you’re imagining?” she asked, leaning forward in the booth.

She knew Waverly so well. Even after all the years apart, at the core, Waverly and Nicole were the same two people that fell in love a long time ago.

“I hear you speak five languages now,” Nicole said, abruptly changing the subject, leaning back in the booth.

Waverly blinked, missing her proximity.

“Yeah. I finally conquered Italian when I...” Waverly trailed off, realizing her mistake too late.

“I’m glad you’ve seen so much of the world,” Nicole said, seemingly transferring the conversation away from awkwardness. Waverly was grateful.

“Even if it was at the expense of my heart,” she continued.

Or not.

Waverly couldn’t keep up. Nicole was transforming too quickly between the sweet, loving, flirty Nicole that Waverly knew well, into a hurt, angry, accusatory version that Waverly had rarely, if ever, seen. That Nicole must have surfaced during their years apart. Waverly supposed that Nicole probably felt the same way about her behavior at the bonfire the other night.

“Nicole, I’m sorry…”

“No. Don’t be,” Nicole said, cutting her off. “Not about that anyway.”

Waverly gulped, her lips parted slightly, and she sucked in a low stream of air.

“You don’t know what its like to base nearly every decision you’ve made in your adult life on how it could potentially get you back to something you’ve longed for since you had to leave it behind.”

Waverly could only stare at Nicole, heart beating wildly in her chest, mouth dry. 

“And that’s ok, Waverly. It is. I’m so glad you’ve gone off and done things, seen things, become even more of a genius than you already were. I’ve done things, I’ve seen things too, but with everything I’ve done and seen, you were right there with me. On my mind, in my heart.” 

Nicole paused, downed the last sip of her coffee, dug in her wallet, and threw money on the table.

“What you could be sorry for? What I’d like for you to apologize for?” she said as she put on her jacket.

“Accusing me of the opposite.”

Nicole slipped out of the booth and walked away. Waverly sat, stunned, paralyzed. The bell above the door chimed with Nicole’s exit, and only then did Waverly realize she had been holding her breath.

\-------

Waverly couldn’t sleep. There was just no hope. She stared at the ceiling, watching the shadows from the light of the full moon dance over the flat expanse above her.

She stayed there for another hour, tossing and turning, and then she finally threw the covers off and got out of bed.

\-------

There had been a length of time, after Nicole had moved away, when Waverly refused to walk down the street of the redhead’s childhood home on the way to school. The ache she felt in her chest when she passed by the empty house was enough to make her cry. She had uncharacteristically not shown up for school one day not long after she had moved away, and Wynonna had found her on Nicole’s front steps, eyes puffy from hours of sobbing. 

It had been ten years since Waverly had climbed the brick steps up to the front door, and she had never done it this late. Always choosing to climb the lattice up to the second story window of the redhead’s bedroom when she would visit at any hour past midnight many years ago.

All the lights were off. She knew Nicole had to be asleep, but she just couldn’t wait any longer to get the truth, to set the record straight. 

She lifted her fist and banged on the door in rapid succession, pausing long enough to listen intently for any movement inside before banging again. 

It took three tries, but finally the front porch light turned on, causing Waverly’s eyes to squint from the brightness. When her eyes adjusted, her nerves finally hit her, and she realized she hadn’t thought past showing up unannounced. She didn’t even have a game plan. All she knew was that their conversation from earlier was far from over. It was time to lay it all on the table. Get everything out there and see where they finally stood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 is already in the works. Until next time...


	5. Always

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Reunion - Part II ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, stay safe out there, pals. And enjoy the levity that I hope this brings.

**Present**

**Sunday**

The three other women in the house awoke to the sound of the bright red Jeep revving to life. 

“It’s two in the morning. Should we stop her?” Willa asked as she walked up to the living room window, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and bobbing her head around to try to see through Wynonna and Gus. 

“No.” Gus responded softly. She had been the first to wake after hearing the front door close softly. Years of anxious listening for the comings and goings of three teenage girls had made her a very light sleeper. 

“Should I call Haught and warn her?” Wynonna asked as the taillights receded in the distance. 

“No.” Gus said more firmly. “Enough with your meddlin’.” 

Wynonna scoffed, and stomped back up the stairs to bed. 

———

Nicole peaked through the crack in the door before pulling it open fully. 

“Waverly?”

The brunette’s eyes went wide at the redhead’s appearance, and her body warmed instantly. 

Nicole’s hair was tousled, perfectly disheveled from sleep, instantly reminding her of something else. She was clutching a blue and black flannel over her chest with one fist while the other held her pistol, limp and resting next to her thigh. She had on black boxer briefs while the rest of her long, lean, milky-white legs were exposed right down to her bare feet. 

When Waverly’s eyes traced back up her body and landed on her eyes, she could swear she saw the hint of a smile mixed in with the confusion. 

Waverly realized her mouth had fallen open and promptly closed it as Nicole put her gun back in the holster hanging on the coat rack by the door. 

When she faced Waverly again, the brunette tried to clear the lump in her throat, but her words came out gravelly anyway. 

“I know it’s late,” she said lamely. 

Nicole took a step back from her door and opened it wider as a silent invitation for Waverly to come inside. 

She stepped into the living room and when she turned back around to face Nicole, she found her hastily buttoning up her flannel. She was off a button, causing the shirt collar to hang loosely above her right breast and subsequently leaving her right hip bone exposed. One half of the “v” that formed her well defined obliques disappeared below the wide, elastic band of her briefs. Waverly swallowed thickly. 

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Waverly said apologetically, looking down at her feet. 

Nicole gave a small smile, and Waverly realized she looked tried, and perhaps a little weary of her sudden appearance. A pang of guilt skirted over the brunette’s heart. 

She took a step closer, Nicole’s eyes on her, but when the redhead still didn’t make a move to speak, Waverly swallowed hard, trying to suppress the tiny tadpoles of nerves she felt swimming around in her stomach. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her puffy, white jacket and looked down at her feet. 

“After South America, I was offered another job,” she began softly. “In Tanzania.” 

Nicole closed her eyes briefly and bit the inside of her lip.

“I would have been the director. It would have been mine to lead.” 

Nicole knew where this was headed. She didn’t like it. 

“I turned it down. To come back. To be with...” she looked up at Nicole, finding a pained, guilty expression on the redhead’s face. 

“It was too late...after I found out...I went to Europe instead.” 

Nicole ran her fingers through her hair and let out a deep sigh.

“Fuck,” she breathed out. 

“I’m not telling you because I want to make you feel bad, Nicole. I’m telling you because I just need to you know that I thought of you too. I made sacrifices, decisions, some good, some not so good. But I thought of you.”

“Waverly, I’m...”

“I don’t want to be sorry anymore,” Waverly said cutting her off. “I don’t want to be angry. I just want...I want to know...why’d you come back here, Nicole?” She asked, soft gaze boring into Nicole.

Nicole stayed silent, and when Waverly looked back up, she found brown eyes focused on her, but making no effort to talk. Waverly held her stare, mustered up the courage and took another step closer to her. She saw Nicole’s throat bob with a thick swallow. 

“Answer me,” Waverly said breathily on an exhale, “I’m listening this time. I want to hear it.”

Nicole finally shifted her stance. She broke eye contact and looked down at her hands, seemingly gathering her thoughts, giving her brain a moment to catch up. 

She slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before staring in Waverly’s eyes once more and stepping forward. 

The brunette had the fleeting urge to step back, to walk around the dining table and put something, _anything_ in between them, but it was too late, and Waverly was nothing if not stubborn. She wasn’t going to back down now. 

“I don’t remember the day we met,” Nicole said softly, and Waverly furrowed her brow. “How could I, right? I mean, we were only toddlers.”

Nicole gave a small smile. 

“I don’t…” Waverly started, but Nicole cut her off and took a step closer to the brunette. Waverly really wished she had something to grab on to.

“When you and I finally started dating in high school, my mom told me about it. You had just left that evening to go to cheer practice and Mom turned to me and said, ‘You still stare at her the same way you did on the day you met.’”

Waverly swallowed; her palms turning into a rainforest. 

“She said she knew that first day of preschool that I loved you. She came to pick me up, and you and I were outside sitting on the brick wall. She said you weren’t looking at me, but she could tell that you were talking to me because your little mouth was moving a mile a minute, and I was just sitting there. Staring at you. Even when you stopped talking. I just stared. And, I’m not sure how much fluff she added, but she always told me that I had a small grin on my face. The whole time. Smitten. A total goner. She knew.” Nicole smiled fondly, a little sad. 

A tight fist appeared around Waverly’s heart.

“Nicole...”

“And I had to believe her, you know? Because when I think back to my earliest memories,” Nicole paused briefly as she took another small step toward Waverly. “I don’t recall ever not loving you.” 

Nicole looked down at the floor that still lay between them and gave a tiny shrug. 

Waverly didn’t know what to say. She had a feeling that this was building up to something. Nicole just needed a bit more prodding. 

“Nicole...” Waverly said again, hesitantly. 

Nicole looked up and Waverly could see the tears brimming in her eyes. She had the urge to envelope her in a hug, but she knew that touching needed to wait. If they touched now, they wouldn’t stop touching and things needed to be said first. Things needed to be heard. 

“Why’d you come back here?” Waverly asked again, softly.

Nicole took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.

Waverly stood silently. 

“I came back for me, Waverly,” she said softly. “I had to know. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least...”

“Why now?” Waverly interrupted. 

Despite knowing what she now knew, Waverly still couldn’t get past the nagging feeling that it was all a bit too coincidental. She felt nervous at the idea that Nicole had her so close to lunging forward and removing the gap between them. It was all a bit too easy.

“Why now?” she asked again, and Nicole frowned. “What took you so long, Nicole?” 

Waverly felt the fear bubbling up in her stomach. She tried to push it back down, but her words came out shaky anyway. 

“You thought, ‘She’s finally settled. It’ll be easy to sweep her off her feet again. Let’s see if it finally pans out and we can live happily ever after.’ Is that what you thought?” She could feel her heartbeat in her ears. 

Nicole looked at her like she had just shared the most obvious thing in the world; the sky is blue, grass is green. 

“Well, yeah, Waverly, but it’s not _that_ simple!” Nicole scoffed. 

“I left everything I’ve known for the past 10 years to come back here,” the redhead shot back. “And by the way, what took _YOU_ so long? Need I remind you that I’ve been in Ontario this whole time? I’m not the one who’s been here and there and all over the world for the past five years.” 

“No,” Waverly shook her head vehemently. “I begged you to come find me. To be with me. And when you didn’t...”

Nicole cut her off.

“God dammit, Waverly, came to find you!” She threw her hands up in frustration. “To tell you. In Boston. I waited outside your class. Jeremy told me which one.”

Waverly’s eyes widened, but Nicole was on a roll, giving her no time to interject.

“I was going to get you back. Tell you that I’d move anywhere for you. A few months after your 21st birthday. After I graduated, I came for you. And you walked out, and it was the first time I’d seen you in two years.” Nicole closed her eyes briefly, clutching the fingers of both hands in tight fists at her chest.

“And you were so fucking beautiful. So god damn beautiful...”

Waverly’s heart shot up into her throat, she couldn’t breathe. 

“And then she showed up,” Nicole continued in a whisper. 

_Rosita_.

Waverly _had_ seen Nicole that day outside of her class. The flash of red in the distance. It had been her. 

“And you looked happy. She kissed you, and you looked happy. And she was beautiful too,” Nicole was crying freely now. “And I nearly died at seeing it. It literally felt like my heart would stop beating!” She sighed. “For a long time, I wished it would,” she finished with a whisper. 

“Nicole,” Waverly said softly as she started to move forward. But Nicole held out her hands, halting Waverly’s forward projection. She wasn’t finished yet.

“And then Ontario. I spent the week leading up to that trying to prepare myself for how it would feel to see you again.” Nicole barked out a laugh, shaking her head, wiping away a tear. “It was useless. The second I saw you, I just...I _wanted_ you. I wanted _us_.”

Waverly gave a small smile. Remembering her own failed attempts at controlling her emotions.

“And after that night...”

Both women closed their eyes flashing back to how it felt to be in each other’s arms again. The familiar rhythm of their love. The press and thrust and _grind_ that was theirs, heightened by anticipation and long-held tension, made slightly new and more powerful by age and experience. 

Waverly shivered, and was brought back to the present by Nicole’s soft voice. 

“I thought that was it. I thought that was finally our chance to reset, to figure things out.”

Nicole swiped at another tear rolling down her cheek. “But then the next morning, you had to leave.” Waverly felt her chest swell with the need to defend herself, but Nicole knew her well, read her reaction and held up her hand again.

“And I understood, Waverly. Really, I did. I would have made you go if you had second guessed it. I would have never kept you from fulfilling that dream, and I have never resented you for it.”

Nicole paused, hoping that she had made that point clear. She needed Waverly to know that she wouldn’t change anything about what had happened that day.

“But you were gone for so long,” Nicole said on an exhale, sounding defeated. “It felt like college all over again except I hardly ever heard from you.”

“And then when we talked on the phone,” Nicole sighed deeply, lowering her voice and her eyes to the floor, running a hand through her untamed hair. “I fucked up. I know I did, but I was standing in that chapel looking at that woman and even though I was bombed out of my mind, I looked at her, and all I could see,” Nicole glanced back up at Waverly, “was you.” 

“And I realized, I had already married the girl I was in love with a long time ago, in a field of flowers behind her house, and I didn’t want to ever marry anyone again if it wasn’t going to be you.”

Sand poured down Waverly’s throat, and water pooled just behind her eyes. Such a contradiction.

“But it was too late. Always too late.”

The trigger was pulled with a blink, and like sprinters at the starting line of a race, tears went running down her cheeks.

Nicole paused, sighing heavily, painfully reliving some of the worst days of her life, recalling what happened next before saying it out loud.

“And when you left for Europe? I tried to convince myself that it was finally over. Really, I did. Loving you was so painful. So so painful, Waverly. I didn’t _want_ to love you anymore.” Nicole reached up and clenched the fabric of her flannel directly over her heart as if the words she had spoken caused her physical pain. She heaved another deep sigh and closed her eyes.

“But it was useless, because...”

A silent moment hung in the air between them.

Waverly managed to swallow down enough of the sand threatening to suffocate her.

“Because trying to love someone else was worse,” she said softly. 

Nicole looked up into her eyes, shining with tears like her own, the same pain she felt reflected back to her. 

Waverly understood. Of course she did. 

Nicole nodded her head slowly. 

“I found out you were back here. For good. All I knew was that you weren’t married to some gorgeous woman, or man, with a ton of babies that should have been mine,” Nicole rolled her eyes up for a split second. “Thank Christ,” she mumbled out, and Waverly had to fight a small smile. “But I had no idea what I was walking in to. Whether or not you’d moved on completely. Whether or not you’d even want to see me again. I didn’t know, but I had to find out. Because God dammit, Waverly, I’d let my heart shatter a million times over before giving up.”

They had slowly moved into each other’s space. Waverly realized suddenly that she could reach out and easily touch her if she wanted. 

The brunette leaned in further and looked Nicole square in the eyes.

“I’ve been to a lot of beautiful places, Nicole. I’ve done a lot of amazing things,” Waverly whispered, and Nicole felt her breath ghost over her skin, warming her to her bones. The muscles in her jaw twitched.

“But you should know,” Waverly said while gently brushing her fingers over Nicole’s hand, “You’re still the one thing I want to do most in this world.”

Nicole leaned in too, closing her eyes, magnets slowly drifting into proximity, their foreheads connected gently. 

“You got me, Waverly. Way back then, on that brick wall outside of our preschool class. You got me. And as long as you want me, I’ll be by your side,” Nicole whispered, a little breathless, full of anticipation. 

Waverly blindly fisted Nicole’s shirt in her hands, tilted her chin up, brushed her nose under Nicole’s, and connected their lips. 

———

They both felt like their bodies were on fire. Lightheaded, desperately grappling at clothes as their lips slid against one another’s. The kiss had started off slow, but quickly turned heated, sloppy. 

Nicole’s hands went to Waverly’s neck, wrapped behind, tangling and fisting in her hair. 

Waverly’s went to the front of her shirt, resting on the defined abs she felt underneath.

Nicole’s skin was still sleep-warmed, her vanilla scent potent and addicting. Waverly dug her fingers into the side of her ribs. 

Nicole moaned, and gently but with definitive purpose, walked her back to the closest wall, lips never parting, and pinned Waverly against it with a huff. 

“I’ve missed you,” Nicole whispered, “so much.”

The brunette realized with mild frustration that she was wearing too many clothes. Her body aching to be as close to Nicole as possible, feeling starved of that familiar touch for far too long. She’d had a taste of it, now she wanted to feel it everywhere. 

She reluctantly removed her hands from Nicole’s body and shed her coat, flinging it somewhere across the room while Nicole continued to kiss her deeply. 

She quickly set about undoing the buttons on Nicole’s flannel, and once the last fasten was undone, she immediately reached in with an arm around her back, pulling her closer, the other hand resting just below the soft skin of her breast.

Nicole let out a low groan, and Waverly took that as permission. She inched her hand up and palmed the soft flesh above Nicole’s ribs, the shape and weight as familiar as her own. She let her thumb run over the hardened nipple she found. 

“Oh God,” Nicole moaned out quietly, barely loud enough for Waverly to hear.

But then her hand was sliding down from Waverly’s hair and grasping firmly around the front of her neck.

Nicole used every ounce of restraint she could muster and pulled back slightly. 

Waverly attempted to chase her lips, but the hand around her throat held her in place. 

“I think there’s stuff we still need to say,” Nicole rasped out, panting heavily, face only inches away. 

The brunette slowly opened her eyes, and at the look of carnal desire she found in Nicole’s blown pupils, she reached down and ran a hand over the front of her own jeans, releasing the tiniest amount of pressure with a soft whimper. 

Nicole’s eyes trailed the movement. She closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip. 

_I’ve just gotten her back, and now she’s going to kill me._

She breathed in deeply. Steadying herself and released her hold on Waverly’s throat. 

“Stuff we should still talk about,” she continued. 

Waverly knew Nicole was being noble. She wanted to get absolutely everything out on the table before diving in headfirst, metaphorically speaking. 

And Waverly understood. She was still fearful too. Of what this meant, of what this was, of what it could be. 

But Waverly also knew that once they got started, there was no stopping. It had always been that way between them. Once they had given in to the desire, it was always too strong to resist. And when the two of them came together like this, words were spoken in actions. In soft, needy touches from warm hands, raised, angry flesh from blunt nails, small patches of bruised skin from hungry mouths and screams of joy from the eventual loss of self-control. 

She pushed the fear aside. Stepped over it, like a felled tree across the trail on a hike. It would be there when she came back down from the precipice. She would deal with it then. 

“Okay,” Waverly said softly, “but, this is talking too,” she said gesturing in-between the small space of their bodies. “Without words. Our own language.”

Nicole looked down, contemplative. Waverly sensed it wouldn’t take much more to push her over the edge. 

“I want to show you how I feel with my hands,” Waverly said while running her thumb over the seductively swollen, soft skin of Nicole’s lips. Nicole gulped visibly and closed her eyes. 

“I want to show you how I feel with my mouth,” she continued and leaned forward to press a soft, open-mouthed kiss to her jaw, trailing down to her neck. “With my tongue on...” she whispered into Nicole’s neck as she brushed the front of the redhead’s underwear lightly with the back of her hand. She heard a sharp intake of breath come from above her. Nicole shivered and let out a tiny whine. 

She looked up and Nicole opened her eyes, her resolve crumbling, as she looked at her through hooded lashes. 

“Is that okay?” Waverly asked quietly. “Can we do this first, and then I promise we’ll talk some more la..”

Nicole’s lips were back on hers, rough and desperate, before she could finish.

The redhead was powerless against requests from Waverly. She couldn’t deny her anything. Never could. Especially after longing for this particular request for so long. Waverly wanted to love her, and she was done restraining herself from loving her back. 

She wrapped her hand around Waverly’s neck once more, tilting her chin up. She placed soft open-mouthed kisses on Waverly’s lips, and then without warning, licked deep and slow and wet inside Waverly’s mouth at the same time that she pushed into her and rolled her hips ever so slightly, providing friction where they both needed it so desperately. The brunette’s knees nearly gave out as she gasped and threw her head back with a thud against the wall behind her. 

“Okay, but Waverly?” Nicole whispered into the brunette’s ear, “I want to spend hours, I want to spend _days_ making up for lost time.” 

The heat in Waverly’s belly dropped low for what felt like the hundredth time that night. She couldn’t wait for Nicole to touch her, to feel how primed she was. She didn’t think she’d ever been so turned on in her entire life. 

“So, if there’s something you want to say, you should speak now, because you’re only going to be saying my name from here on out.”

 _Jesus. Fucking. Christ._

Nicole kissed her softly and pulled away again. 

“I love you, Nicole. I love you,” Waverly managed breathily before she let herself get swept away completely.

———

Willa and Wynonna sat at the breakfast table that morning while Gus puttered around, filling the teapot and pulling down the assortment of leaf satchels. The smell of bacon permeating the house. 

Waverly had very obviously not come back home after leaving in the early hours of morning. 

“I still can’t figure out how she knew.” Willa said yawning. 

“Knew what?” Wynonna asked, catching the contagion and yawning back. 

“That Waverly was back in town. I asked everyone. They all swear they never told her anything,” she said with a shrug.

“Yeah that is a stumper.” Wynonna agreed.

The two brunettes turned to the older woman, her back to them, standing in front of the stove. 

“Any ideas Gus?” Wynonna asked.

“Mmm,” was her only reply. 

Willa and Wynonna glanced at each other. A sly grin appeared on Willa’s face and Wynonna’s eyes widened at the sudden realization.

“It was you!” Wynonna yelled.

Gus turned around with the whistling teapot and set it on the iron trivet on top of the table. She refused to make eye contact. 

“You’re the biggest meddler of us all!” 

“Settle down Wynonna.” Gus said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. 

“What made you do it?” Willa asked, pulling a teacup over in front of her, steam rising in front of her face.

The older woman paused and looked up at her two nieces. 

“She asked me to,” Gus stated matter of fact, lifting one shoulder in a half shrug.

Wynonna narrowed her eyes. 

“Nicole?” Willa questioned, catching on. 

“Mmm.” She affirmed and took a sip of her tea. “Years ago. After Waverly went to Italy.”

Wynonna leaned back with a thud in her chair, shocked.

“Well tickle my anus and call me Sally,” she mumbled. “Gus was leading Operation Wayhaught all along.”

Gus let out a grunt of a laugh and shook her head. 

“Wrong, kiddo,” she paused, “Nicole was,” she finished with a smirk. 

———

Waverly awoke the next morning feeling unbelievably sated. The weight of Nicole’s blankets over her naked body, providing the perfect amount of warmth and pressure, the smell of Nicole’s skin and sheets mixed with hours of mind-blowing sex, her body sore in all the right places. 

She stretched, smiling at how good the ache felt.

When she rolled over, she found Nicole splayed out on her back, every inch of her gloriously naked body exposed to the air, and Waverly’s delighted eyes, except for one leg that had somehow managed to stay under cover. 

She had always run hot. Waverly wondered if she slept naked often. She had come downstairs hastily the night before, shirt not even buttoned. Signs thus far were positive. 

Waverly liked the idea of that. Waking up every morning, reaching over and getting to run her hands over all of that warm, smooth, lean skin unencumbered by elastic, buttons, cloth. 

It was funny how they had known each other nearly all their lives, but she smiled at all of the things they had yet to discover about the adult versions of one another. 

A part of her wanted to let Nicole sleep. They had only succumbed to exhaustion a couple of hours ago, and Nicole had done _a lot_ of work into the early hours of morning. But Waverly couldn’t help herself. She had been denied the luxury and privilege of Nicole’s presence for far too long. And like the redhead had said only hours ago, they had lost time to make up for. Nicole was _definitely_ making sure Waverly knew what she had been missing out on all these years. 

She scooted over and placed a kiss to Nicole’s ribs, and followed the path of the small smattering of purple marks that she had left the night before, dotting her otherwise perfect flesh like her randomly placed tattoos.

Nicole hummed, arched her back in a stretch, and threw an arm around Waverly, a warm palm on her lower back pulling her in tight just as Waverly made it up to her collarbone. 

“Baby,” she mumbled out and blinked open her eyes, smiling happily when she took in the angelic face so close to her own. 

“G’morning,” Waverly mumbled into the crook of Nicole’s neck. She giggled and squirmed at the way Waverly’s breath tickled across her skin. 

She shifted, flipping Waverly onto her back with no resistance from the smaller woman, and laid next to her, one leg nestled in-between the brunette’s, running her fingers up and down the arm closest to her.

“You’re so beautiful,” Nicole whispered reverently, looking Waverly in the eyes. “And we’re both here again, and you’re in my bed, and you’re...”

 _Mine_.

Waverly smiled, turning her head and kissing the closest thing to her, a firm bicep. 

“I’m yours,” she said breathily. “I’ve always been yours.” 

Nicole smiled, dimple on display.

“I must be dreaming,” she said. 

Waverly narrowed her eyes with a smirk and then rolled her hips into the firm thigh between her legs. 

Nicole took a quick breath in. Waverly was already so wet. So warm. 

“Baby, we need to shower, and I need to change these sheets,” Nicole groaned, wrinkling her nose slightly. 

Waverly smiled shyly, her cheeks flushing pink. She felt a little dirty, but she couldn’t help the desire to roll around in the evidence of their reunion for a little while longer. 

“What?” Nicole grinned, knowing there was something swirling around in the brunette’s big, beautiful brain. All she had to do was wait patiently, read the unwritten signs. 

“Nothing, I just...” Waverly pulled up the blankets and played with the topmost corner between her fingers. 

Nicole reached over and pulled the blanket out of Waverly’s hands, dragging the covers down her body and exposing her once again. Nothing to hide behind. 

Nicole leaned down, kissing the side of Waverly’s breast and working her way up. She enveloped as much of the soft flesh as she could in her mouth, slowly running her flattened tongue over her hardened nipple. 

Waverly closed her eyes and fisted the sheets below her fingers tightly, rolling her hips again ever so slightly, a new wave of liquid heat migrating its way south. 

Nicole released her with a pop, hovering inches above the skin. 

When Waverly picked up her head to gaze down at Nicole, the redhead smirked. 

“You want me to fuck you again in our dirty sheets?” She asked seductively. 

Waverly threw her head back down and groaned. 

_Oh my God yes._

They had only had sex together as teenagers aside from the time in Ontario. Waverly didn’t think it could get any better than what she had experienced that night a few years ago in her small hotel room. Boy was she wrong. 

Last night had started soft, tender at times. Both women relishing in the way it felt to be together again. Remapping each other’s skin. Memorizing all over again. 

Nicole had touched her like she was a literal angel. Something worthy of worshiping. And after Waverly made her come for the first time, Nicole had cried. Soft, silent tears spilling down the side of her face. Waverly had kissed them away, her chest tight with the will to keep her own at bay. 

Then, almost as if a switch had flipped, Nicole took what she needed shamelessly, and gave everything she had to give.

Waverly was just along for the ride, holding on, screaming in pleasure every time the roller coaster took a plunge. 

All the while Nicole asking if Waverly was ok, if what she was doing was alright. 

Nicole had always been dominant and assertive, but with age and experience came a new level of self-confidence that Waverly didn’t know if she was quite ready to fully handle just yet. She had seen glimpses of it the night before but could sense that Nicole was restraining herself just a little. Her toes curled at the thought of Nicole unleashing herself completely.

———

Sometime later, Nicole was lying in between Waverly’s spread legs with her head resting on Waverly’s stomach. Both women were finally breathing normally again. Nicole tracing small patterns over Waverly’s hip bone and Waverly running her fingers through Nicole’s untamed, copper tresses. 

“Come on, let’s get cleaned up,” Nicole mumbled, placing a kiss below her ribs, sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed. 

The rush of cold air brought Waverly out of her blissful daze.

“Do you want to go first or should I?” Waverly asked, stretching one more time before sitting up. 

Nicole turned around, confused.

“To the shower?” Waverly clarified once she saw the look on the redhead’s face. 

“Do you not want to shower together?” Nicole asked hopefully, but followed it up immediately with, “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” 

“Oh, ummm, no, I mean yes, it’s just...we’ve never...we’ve never done that...together.”

She’d never done it with anyone. Something about bathing with someone else felt immensely intimate to Waverly. It seemed a little silly given everything she and Nicole had done previously.

“Huh. You’re right,” Nicole said, looking up to the ceiling, going through her catalog of Waverly memories and coming to the same conclusion. “Something we’ve never done together. There can’t be many of those left.”

Waverly raised her eyebrows, letting her nervousness fall to the floor and puddle at her feet. 

“Oh well, there _were_ quite a few things we did last night that we’ve never done together,” Waverly pointed out, and Nicole grinned devilishly. 

“Plenty more where that came from, Baby,” she followed with a wink.

Waverly watched her gloriously naked form turn around and walk out of the room, confident that the brunette wouldn’t be far behind. 

Waverly shivered, feeling a small trickle of heat run down between her thighs before she took off after Nicole.

———

The two women stepped out of the warm stream of water, surrounded by a billowy cloud of steam. 

Waverly’s legs felt a little wobbly, her body twitching lightly from aftershocks. Nicole smirked as she wrapped her up in a thick, fuzzy towel, helping her gain her footing once more. 

Waverly decided she quite liked showering with someone else. 

———

“You’re staring again,” Waverly said, leaning on the table.

They had just given up their menus having placed their brunch orders. 

They would have preferred to stay in, eat in the privacy of Nicole’s kitchen, but the redhead had desperately needed to go the grocery store for days now. Work always came first.

And there was no way they were going back to the homestead to face the nth degree.

So, they found themselves back at their favorite diner for the second day in a row. 

“Well stop being so beautiful,” Nicole stated matter of fact. Waverly rolled her eyes and smiled. “I just can’t believe we’re sitting here. Like this, after last night,” Nicole continued. 

Waverly arched an eyebrow. “We were sitting here yesterday. Like this. Until you up and walked out on me,” she challenged. 

Nicole bit the inside of her cheek. 

“Right. To be fair, that wasn’t my intention when you first sat down.”

“Mmmm,” Waverly said, her lips puckered, and eyebrow raised in question.

“Ok, we each get three questions,” Nicole said, “To clear the air.”

She had her arm thrown over the back of the booth, her black bomber jacket with the sleeves pulled up just enough to see the smattering of tattoos on her forearm. Johnny Cash T-shirt visible, sunglasses propped up on top of her perfectly untamed red locks. 

She was effortlessly cool, so gorgeous. 

“You’ve gotten a lot of ass these past few years, haven’t you?” Waverly asked from behind her coffee mug. 

Nicole’s eyes widened, her eyebrows arching high on her forehead, heat creeping up her body.

“Is that one of your three questions?” she asked nervously, leaning in on the table. 

“No. Those will be more difficult.”

Nicole gulped. 

“Look at you though,” Waverly stuck out a hand, motioning it up and down in front of Nicole. “You’ve had so much pussy.” 

“Waverly!” Nicole whisper-yelled with a nervous laugh, glancing around the diner. 

“You were always confident, a little cocky and smug. But now. And last night...” Waverly continued; a seductive smile spread across her face.

“I was never a player, Waverly, if that’s what you’re getting at,” Nicole leaned in. “I’ve only ever loved one girl.”

“Mmm hmm,” Waverly smirked, but Nicole remained serious. 

“They knew,” Nicole shrugged, a little annoyed, and a flash of confusion crossed Waverly’s face. “Any woman I was with for any amount of time - and it wasn’t _many_ ,” Nicole stressed. “They knew,” she continued with another shrug. “That my heart was already taken.” 

Waverly’s expression softened. 

“And last night? You can’t give me all the credit for that because, our chemistry? _God_ ,” Nicole groaned out, throwing her head back a little, eyes rolling up. “That’s what that was.”

Waverly swallowed hard and cleared her throat. And maybe squeezed her thighs together a little. 

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind before one of her three questions became whether or not Nicole would follow her into the bathroom. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would.

_Focus._

“How’d you end up in that wedding chapel?” She asked, leaning on the table with both elbows, fingers laced together.

“Jesus, ok. Is THIS one of your three questions?” Nicole pulled down her sunglasses, laying them on the table, running a hand through her hair.

Waverly shrugged; coy smile spread across her face. 

“If I told you I don’t really remember, would you believe me?”

She shook her head. 

“Not a chance Haught.” 

Nicole sighed, and cupped her coffee mug with both hands, looking down. 

A beat. 

“We met climbing,” she said on an exhale. “She was with a group of friends, and they sort of folded me in. We all climbed together and camped out for a few days. She was headed to Vegas; her friends were headed home. I uh, I didn’t really want to be alone,” Nicole stole a glance at Waverly. Remorseful. Nicole kept her eyes on her. 

“We got tickets to Brittany Live. We were drunk. Very very drunk. I wasn’t in a great place mentally. Pretty self-destructive.” 

Waverly bit her bottom lip in concern. 

“The rest is honestly a blur. I remember she won some money at the slots. I came to when we were in the chapel.”

“And you realized you didn’t want to...” 

Nicole shrugged. “Polygamy is illegal in the US and Canada.” 

Waverly knitted her eyebrows together, a puzzled looked etched on her face. 

“Well, you are still my wife, aren’t you?” Nicole leaned forward, smiling softly. 

Waverly grinned, recalling their younger, more innocent selves. Letting the fondness of the memory wash over her and warm her chest. 

“If that’s the case, you have a lot of anniversaries to make up for,” Waverly challenged with an arched eyebrow. 

Nicole smiled wide, the banter between the two feeling as natural as breathing, her dimple on full display.

Waverly felt her heart dripping love onto her rib cage, the muscle too saturated to contain it any longer. 

Nicole reached a hand across the table playing with the tips of Waverly’s fingers.

“Do you resent me for it?” Nicole asked quietly, her gaze directed down at their joined hands. Waverly squeezed, forcing Nicole to look back up at her.

“No. I did things I regretted when I was trying to get over you too.”

Nicole shook her head, not wanting to hear about the “things” Waverly regretted.

“For Tanzania.”

_Oh._

Waverly took a deep breath in.

“Honestly? I did for a while.”

Nicole looked back down at their hands, remorseful.

“It was always easier to be angry than it was to face how I really felt. And, I’m sure it would have been amazing, but Italy was a dream. It was some of the best months of my life in spite what I was dealing with emotionally while I was there. I thought of you a lot.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows. Waverly smiled and squeezed her hand again.

“And not solely in a spiteful way. I wanted you there with me. I wanted to share it with you. It quickly became one of my favorite places on earth. We’ll go one day.”

“Yeah?” Nicole asked, hopeful.

Waverly nodded her head and smiled, leaning in close.

“Wait till you hear me speaking to you in Italian while you’re going down on me,” she whispered.

Nicole’s eyes widened and she cleared her throat, sitting back and looking around the diner for the second time that morning. Waverly always seemed so innocent to those who knew her. A perfect little angel. But she had always kept Nicole on her toes, letting her believe she had the upper hand. Pulling the carpet out from under her when she noticed the redhead’s firmly planted feet.

“Here you are ladies,” Lindy said, her presence dissipating the invisible steam that had developed between their bodies. 

She was none the wiser. Simply glad that it seemed like her favorite patrons were actually sticking around for a while today.

———

Stomachs full and air nearly cleared, the two women sipped on the remaining coffee left in their mugs.

“Ok,” Nicole said on a deep exhale, bracing. “Last question.”

Waverly pursed her lips, glancing up. 

Nicole saw the instant the lightbulb switched to life. Waverly grinned, a little too manically for Nicole’s comfort. Waverly pushed aside her plate slowly, eyes fixed on Nicole.

“How’d you know I was here?” Half-moons, not crescents. “Who’s your source?”

**Waverly 24, Nicole 25**

Gus came inside, armful of groceries, nearly tipping a bag over when she set them down less than gracefully on the breakfast table. She glanced up just in time to see someone out of the kitchen window, walking out to the field beyond the house.

Brow furrowed, she stepped closer to the window, a flash of red hair becoming clearly visible.

She sighed, and opened the back door, following the figure in the distance.

Nicole was seated in the grass, looking out over the mountains when she heard the approaching footsteps. She turned around startled at first, but shoulders immediately relaxing upon the realization of who it was. She wiped a tear from her eye and swiped below her nose.

“Hey, kid,” Gus said softly, “Mind if I sit?”

Nicole shook her head and scooted over needlessly in invitation.

“Sorry to just show up like this,” Nicole said once Gus had settled next to her, voice stuffy from fallen tears. “I just wanted to,” she sighed, “I don’t know what I want,” voice shaky, defeated.

“Did you just get off of a plane?” Gus questioned, trying to make sense of Nicole’s return to Purgatory.

She nodded.

“I just woke up this morning and needed to come back. To the beginning.”

They sat in silence for a long moment.

“She made the wrong choice, Nicole,” Gus finally said. “She’s smart. Smarter than anyone else I know, and I’d never talk ill of her, but she made the wrong choice.”

Nicole sniffled.

“But the thing is hon, she made it, and now she has to live with it, and so do you. I know you’ll always love each other, but maybe it’s time to...”

“No,” Nicole said stubbornly. Her voice unwavering for the first time that day. “No, Gus. I’ve tried. I’d rather just wait forever if I have to.”

Gus sighed, heavy and long, knowing she wouldn’t convince her otherwise.

“Will you do me a favor?” Nicole asked softly, looking up at Gus through unshed tears.

The older woman nodded.

“Let me know if she ever comes back here?” Gus narrowed her eyes, puzzled. “For good.” Nicole finished, and watched Gus’ expression change to understanding, and then worry.

“Nicole,” she said nervously.

Nicole turned to face her more fully, reaching out. 

“Please Gus. I promise I won’t ruin her life if it’s too late by then, but if it’s not…”

Gus nodded once.

**Present**

Nicole looked up after finishing the story to find Waverly with an unreadable expression frozen across her face.

“Are you mad?” Nicole asked tentatively.

Waverly shook her head lightly, expression unchanging.

“I just can’t believe you did that,” Waverly said a little dumbfounded.

“I’m sorry. I know it was kind of an invasion of privacy,” Nicole began, thinking she needed to do damage control.

“No,” Waverly said. “Not that. I just…I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been. I…”

Waverly got up from her side of the table and slid in next to Nicole, wrapping her arms around her as best she could in the small confines of the booth.

“Thank you,” Waverly whispered, tilting her head up to look at Nicole, inches from her face.

“For what?” Nicole asked, pushing stray hair behind Waverly’s ear.

“For fighting for us. I always just gave up. Ran. It was too hard,” Waverly said looking ashamed. “It must have been so much harder for you.”

Nicole smiled softly.

“It hasn’t been easy.”

Nicole kissed Waverly on the nose.

“But the choice to fight was a simple one.”

She planted a soft kiss to her cheek.

“And so very worth it.”

Next her lips, briefly once and then again, and when they pulled apart, they both smiled at each other, crescent-mooned, and deep-dimpled.

“One more question?” Waverly asked innocently, and Nicole smirked in affirmation.

“Will you take me home so I can make it up to you?”

_Yes ma’am._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed the "real" reunion. I think the next chapter is the last one on this and it's well underway - though it will be hard to say goodbye to these two idiots, I have been working up an idea on another fic...where they're still idiots...we'll see how it pans out.


	6. Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end, and the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff fluff, angst angst, fluff, and of course, a happy ending.

**Waverly 14, Nicole 15**

The Earp inheritance had always baffled Nicole. The house was, to put it nicely, a minuscule step above an old, rundown shack, but the land it sat on spread for acres and acres. It had to be worth millions.

The field was their favorite spot, but occasionally in the summer, when the two wanted to sneak further away, the small, tree-lined pond deeper onto the property was where they found themselves. 

It was dark out, but the pond was large enough that the late summer moon cast bright light across the still surface while they sat at the edge listening to the crickets and bull-frogs banter back and forth. 

Nicole looked over at Waverly, her face illuminated too beautifully for it to be this late at night. 

She needed to tell her. She’d been needing to tell her for years. 

It didn’t feel right anymore, loving her the way she did, wanting her the way she did, without Waverly knowing. 

The younger girl had called, whispering over the line for Nicole to meet her at the pond. Nicole didn’t even ask why, she never asked why. She did as Waverly wanted, and she never once regretted it.

“How is it still so warm?” Waverly asked rhetorically, pulling her hair up into a tight bun on top of her head. 

It was unseasonably hot. Mid-August in Purgatory usually meant warmer days to cooler nights, but the past few evenings had stayed balmy. 

Nicole gulped, her body warming for reasons other than the weather. 

Waverly’s tan neck was so long, jaw so defined, lips so supple.

It took a moment for Nicole to realize that Waverly had turned her head and was watching her as Nicole was eying her lips.

She cleared her throat and quickly looked away, but not before she caught the brunette smiling, a little too knowingly for Nicole’s comfort.

“Have you ever been skinny-dipping?” Broke the silence.

_Jesus._

Nicole shook her head, attempting to find her voice.

“You know I’ve never done anything worth mentioning without you by my side,” Nicole said softly, meaning it.

“Not true,” Waverly playfully protested. “You volunteered at the police station all summer long, and I was most definitely, and irritably, not by your side.”

Despite her attempt to remain modest, Nicole smiled, proud that her internship at the station was something Waverly found worthy of mention in Nicole’s life up to that point. 

Nedley had asked if she wanted to help around the precinct for a little experience that summer, and she had instantly agreed. Once Waverly found out that most of Nicole’s summer vacation would be spent doing something other than lying around aimlessly with her, she had become, much to Nicole’s elation, downright indignant. Nicole had to promise Waverly that every Saturday night was hers and hers alone for the brunette to even remotely resemble anything other than a petulant child.

“Is that why you asked me to meet you here? You want to swim naked with me?” Nicole asked, feeling a little emboldened. 

Waverly looked over at her for a moment, studying her face. 

Brazen to blushing. Only Waverly could do that to Nicole. She was thankful that moonlight hid flushed skin. 

“I didn’t think of it ‘til just now,” Waverly said softly, a little defensive. 

_Sure._

Maybe it was because they were growing up, raging teenage hormones and all, but Nicole had found that lately, things had become a little _more_ than friendly between herself and Waverly. She tested a flirt here and there and they had started touching each other in a way that could be construed as romantic to anyone who took notice for more than a few moments. Lingering goodbye hugs, sweaty hands holding on to each other during walks to the field, heads on shoulders during movie night. It had started largely after Waverly had spent a few hours basically laying on top of the redhead during their experiment with her brother’s sock drawer substance. She could list all of the little things that had happened between them that spurred on her courage, ignited whimsical hope, and, of course, instilled deep-rooted fear.

Waverly had known that Nicole was gay pretty much since they were old enough to know what it meant, but Waverly had never really led on to any sort of definitive sexual proclivities. She would mention how beautiful she thought some random woman was but expressed just as much attraction to men.

She had even gone on a date with Champ fucking Hardy earlier that summer, his arm thrown casually over her shoulder as they left the house, much to Nicole’s dismay. But it was short-lived, and she and Nicole had spent a good amount of time laughing at how terrible that date had been. 

So, Nicole never asked, and Nicole never pushed because Nicole kind of felt that maybe Waverly didn’t even know herself.

“I want to be able to say I’ve been skinny-dipping, is all,” Waverly said unconvincingly. 

“Mmmm,” Nicole evasively hummed. 

She could tell Waverly was growing irritated, but she couldn’t help but be a little cheeky. 

“Well, go ahead then,” she said gesturing out to the water when Waverly had made no attempt at fulfilling her own wish.

Waverly pouted, bottom lip stuck out. 

Nicole wanted to bite it. The inside of her cheeks stung like she had just eaten a sour piece of candy. 

“You have to come too!” Waverly protested, arms crossing her chest, and had she been standing, foot surely to have been stomped on the earth below them. 

“Why?” Nicole pushed a little further.

Waverly let out an annoyed huff, and Nicole had to stifle a smile. 

“So you’re just going to _watch_ me swim naked?” Waverly challenged, a little scandalized. 

Nicole barked out a laugh, unable to help herself. 

“Uhhh, kinda sounds like a lesbian dream come true, Waves,” Nicole joked back. 

Waverly slapped Nicole’s arm, but couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips or the resultant giggle. 

The banter was easy, but it was only stalling Nicole from the difficult task of trying to deny her best friend’s wishes, and made even more difficult by the simple fact that she really _really_ wanted to give in. Her eyes ached to see every glorious inch of Waverly’s body, her fingers prematurely twitched at the desire they would have to reach out and touch. Nicole couldn’t even dream up anything more erotic in her teenage brain. 

She’d, of course, seen her in numerous bathing suits throughout their lives, and as of the past few years, she was eternally grateful for sunglasses that hid the fact that she just couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off of her tanned skin, lean muscled, glorious specimen of a best friend. Especially since those bathing suits seemed to keep getting more and more flimsy by the year. 

But something about this just felt more...wrong. More invasive if Waverly didn’t feel the same way. 

Waverly’s voice brought Nicole out of her thoughts. 

“What if you become a big time cop one day and you get shot and you’re lying on your death bed and you think back to this moment in regret because you didn’t do this one thing for me?” She was grasping at straws, pulling out all the stops. It was adorable. And unsettling. 

Nicole was sure Waverly could hear her heart thudding an unsteady rhythm against her rib cage, some ancient beat warning against the perils of unrequited love. 

“Nicole,” Waverly drew out her name, begging. She leaned in. Nicole smelled lavender. Nicole felt her forearm burn where tiny fingers wrapped around it. “Please?” Nicole felt her resolve crumble. 

She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, let out a quick huff of air and then she finally stood. 

Waverly remained seated, looking up at her, hopeful, anxious.

Nicole reached for the snap of her jeans, and Waverly jumped up, far too excited to contain a tiny little squeal of delight. 

It tickled Nicole’s ears. She couldn’t help but smile. 

Waverly made quick work of her T-shirt and shorts, and Nicole did her best to avert her eyes. 

Both only left in underwear, their gazes locked.

“Ready?” Waverly asked, a twinkle in her eye that made Nicole want to groan. 

_Christ, no._

“Yes.” 

Waverly turned away from Nicole, unhooking her bra, and shedding her underwear with unabashed ease, and took off to the water. 

It was too dark for Nicole to really see anything other than her perfect silhouette once she was more than a few steps away. 

Nicole shed the rest of her layers and ran after her, hitting the water and diving in just in time for Waverly to pop back up from below. 

Nicole surfaced and found herself up close to Waverly’s face. Tiny droplets of water clung to her long eyelashes like little moons orbiting the emerald and gold planet of Waverly’s irises. 

“It feels amazing,” Waverly said breathily, and Nicole had to agree. 

She pushed the palms of her hands against the water to put some distance between them before the urge to kiss the brunette became too strong, and she leaned back to float on the surface. 

And though the moonlight is never as telling as the day, Waverly’s breath hitched in her throat at the way it shone over Nicole’s wet, naked body spread out in front of her like an offering. Beautiful, round breasts with pert nipples easily visible from their exposure to the night air, defined abs flexing with the effort to stay afloat, a small patch of wet curls down from her bellybutton, and long, milky white legs. She looked ethereal, too good to be true, and Waverly’s heart tugged in her chest.

Nicole had cast a line and hooked her right in the beating muscle, slowly reeling her in.

But it wasn’t until Waverly had been lifted out of the water and placed in a net that she finally realized she had been caught long ago. 

“You’re never gonna get shot though, right?” she called out to the sculpted marble form, swallowing hard around nothing. 

Nicole sat back up, waving her arms in the water to stay afloat. 

“It’d be kinda cool,” she shrugged. Adolescent naivete on display. 

“Maybe,” Waverly affirmed. “But only as long as you don’t die.”

Nicole laughed freely. 

“Ok, Waves, I won’t die.” 

“Good,” she nodded once. “You know you can’t leave me,” Waverly said. 

Nicole’s lips quirked up into a smile, “Never.”

“You promise?” Waverly asked, and Nicole splashed around, floating on her back once more.

“I promise!” she called out, and Waverly looked over her body once more. 

“Cause I’m in love with you,” Waverly whispered. 

But Nicole didn’t hear, the confession silenced by the water that Waverly Earp made her swim in. 

**Present**

**Waverly 27, Nicole 28**

Waverly helped her girlfriend into the tub, cringing at the small yelp of pain Nicole let out as she lowered herself in. 

The bullet had torn through and lodged itself into her left shoulder. 

When the call came, Waverly had run, pushing past some of her students into the cramped stall of the girl’s bathroom before emptying the contents of her lunch into the questionably cleaned toilet.

Waverly experienced the longest night of her life while sitting on the faded, floral print of the most uncomfortable waiting room chair ever with the insomnia-inducting, florescent hospital lights above. 

More than once, Wynonna reached a hand over and rested it on her younger sister’s thigh to mitigate her incessant, nervous bouncing.

The surgery had taken a few hours, and then a few more for Nicole to come out of her drug induced slumber.

“Baby,” Nicole said softly, her throat sandpaper and her brain unsettled dust. 

Waverly looked up and burst into tears. 

\-------

She had been undeniably moody since Nicole’s return home. She knew it was unfair, she knew she needed to get over it, but she couldn’t help wishing that Nicole had chosen some other profession. A desk job. Something safe. Something that never involved putting her life in danger.

But Nicole loved her job. She’d wanted to be a cop since she before she was old enough to see from behind the bullpen. Nedley had laughed when he first placed his uniform cap on Nicole’s head, her eyes disappearing behind the brim. Nicole had smiled in pride.

She was good at her job, respected, trusted, never careless, and took every precaution to ensure the safety of herself and her team. But sometimes, things happen that are just out of our control. 

When they were young, Nicole’s talk of becoming a sheriff one day had impressed Waverly. Anyone who answered the call to protect and serve garnered great admiration in the tiny town. And now that they were adults, being the girlfriend of a cop had its perks, publicly _and_ privately.

As she watched Nicole’s naked body lower into the steaming water, she recalled the last time she’d fucked her wearing only their strap-on synched tightly to her waist and her blue uniform tie synched tightly to her neck while Waverly’s own hands were cuffed to the headboard above her. 

She shivered noticeably, and Nicole glanced up finding Waverly’s cheeks flushed. 

Unsure if it was just the warmth emitting from the steamy water in the tiny bathroom, or something else, “Get in with me, Baby?” Nicole asked, testing. 

She had noticed Waverly’s somber mood, of course, but had wanted to wait until Waverly was ready to broach the subject herself.

Waverly bit the inside of her lip, looking down into the bath at Nicole’s bare, blurry legs before nodding subtly.

She stood up, Nicole’s over-sized Purgatory High Basketball hoodie swallowing her tiny frame, hitting her legs mid-thigh, arguably longer than some of the tight skirts Waverly chose to wear on date nights. She lifted it over her head in one swift motion, and the redhead’s tongue dissolved into desert sand. Waverly didn’t have a single thing on underneath it. She watched as her girlfriend reached for a hair tie from the tiny shelves above the toilet and put her hair in a tight bun on top of her head. Nicole loved Waverly’s long, wavy locks hanging free, but something about the bun did things to Nicole. Waverly knew.

Waverly was up to something and though Nicole was in no position to oblige, she felt her stomach pull low, slow and deep. She couldn’t help but want to touch her. 

She always wanted to touch her. 

In the year since returning to Purgatory, the fire between them hadn’t burned out once. If anything, it had continued to grow in intensity as the two rediscovered their love. They sought each other out so often that Wynonna, Willa and Gus had politely (albeit embarrassingly for all parties involved) asked them to stay over at Nicole’s if they weren’t going to be able to do anything other than _just_ sleep. Waverly had all but moved in with Nicole as a result.

She stepped into the heated water and sat opposite her girlfriend; her legs carefully placed over Nicole’s own, one foot on either side of her waist. 

Nicole immediately reached down with her right hand and stroked up and down Waverly’s shin, past her knee, and up her thigh as far as she could before repeating the motion.

“Baby, you’re so beautiful,” Nicole said reverently.

Waverly looked up, a soft smile on her lips. She glanced over at Nicole’s left shoulder. The tape and gauze still covered a majority of her collarbone and shoulder, just above her heart, but at least the wound had stopped leaking small amounts of blood onto the bandage. 

Waverly had a feeling that this scar would not be one she found particularly sexy.

Nicole followed Waverly’s eyes and squeezed above her knee. 

Waverly looked back into soft, brown eyes, and Nicole was surprised to see something a little foreign mixed in where soft summer moss met a dark golden sunset. Something a little wild, worrisome. 

Waverly pushed forward, bending her knees, their cores nearly touching, and Nicole swallowed back the sudden lump in her throat as Waverly reached up, running warm, wet fingers slowly down from Nicole’s throat, between her breasts, past her abs, and back into the water. Nicole’s skin erupted with goosebumps, and her breathing picked up, anticipation lighting up her nerves like pop rocks under her skin making her fingers twitch and toes curl. Waverly’s middle finger dipped into her bellybutton momentarily on its descent before finally landing on soft, submerged curls. She paused, a plea in her eyes, and Nicole nodded despite her concern for Waverly’s demeaner. She sensed Waverly needed something, needed this, before she would finally open up about what was really bothering her.

She leaned in, planting a soft kiss to Nicole’s lips, once and then again. Her free hand coming up and wrapping behind Nicole’s neck. She pulled away, inches from Nicole’s face, and when Nicole opened her eyes slowly, she found Waverly already staring at her. 

“Baby?” Nicole whispered into the small gap. 

Waverly dove back in, as if the term of endearment uttered from Nicole’s lips was the magic word she needed to hear, kissing Nicole desperately, wet and hot as she simultaneously plunged the fingers of her other hand further down into the water and into Nicole’s own wet warmth. 

Nicole pulled back, gasping, a small, pleasured yelp tumbling out of her mouth involuntarily, and it spurred Waverly on. 

She watched Nicole’s face, enraptured by the look of pure ecstasy etched across it, the tiny shifts in her eyebrows directing Waverly’s movements, the blush on her chest creeping up like wildfire to her neck and onto her cheeks, consuming her, burning as bright as her auburn locks.

Fingers created a hook, and Waverly watched as her mouth fell open slightly, bottom lip plump, wet and seductive. Waverly couldn’t take it, she leaned forward crashing her mouth into Nicole’s and trapped that bottom lip in between her teeth, biting hard and pulling until it popped free.

“Oh fuck,” Nicole drew out, grasping Waverly’s thigh blindly with the hand of her uninjured arm and digging her fingers in almost painfully, her chest rapidly rising and falling with how good it all felt. 

Waverly pumped deeper, faster.

“I’m gonna…” Nicole managed to get out breathlessly, throwing her head back further against Waverly’s tight grip behind her neck. 

“Look at me when you come for me, Baby,” Waverly demanded, but her voice barely registered in Nicole’s brain. She was about to tumble over the edge, nothing else mattered but chasing the impending peak.

“Nicole,” Waverly said a little more firmly, trying to get her girlfriend’s attention.

“God dammit, look at me!” Waverly yelled, a detectable edge of grief hidden within the wail, startling the redhead. Her eyes popped open and before she could express any concern, she was crashing, crying out, grabbing on to Waverly’s legs, not even registering the pain in her shoulder as she reached out to find purchase on anything to ground her. She came hard, looking Waverly in the eyes until she couldn’t hold on any longer. 

She slumped back, forcing Waverly’s hand around her neck to fall away. Her bare back hitting the cool porcelain behind her, providing startling but welcome relief to the burn still running just below the surface of her skin.

“Fuck me,” she drew out in a whisper as she closed her eyes, head hanging over the edge of the tub, trying to bring her breathing back to normal. She felt Waverly remove her fingers from between her legs once the aftershocks had subsided, a small whine escaping her lips before she could stop it. 

She took a deep breath, and finally lifted her head, blinking slowly, still a little dazed. 

When Waverly’s face came into clear view, the bliss immediately vanished, replaced solely with concern.

Waverly had tears running down her cheeks.

Nicole sat up quickly, tiny waves crashed in between their bodies. She winced in pain at the sudden movement but pushed it aside as she reached for Waverly’s cheek with her right hand.

“Oh my God, Baby,” she said softly, wiping the tears off her face futilely as more just continued to run down, creating new tracks in their wake. 

“I’m sorry,” Waverly managed to choke out. “I’m so sorry, I just wanted to make sure I remembered the look on your face when...” Nicole’s brow furrowed in concern. 

Waverly looked down, shoulders slumped, defeated. “Just in case you never...” she muttered under her breath. 

“Baby I’m right here,” Nicole whispered soothingly, pulling Waverly into a hug. She buried her face into the space between Nicole’s neck and shoulder, sobbing, holding on tight. 

“I feel like I just got you back, Nicole. You’ve been lost to me for so many years, but never...I don’t know what I’d do if…”

———

A little time passed, both women had gently bathed one another, Waverly careful to avoid wetting Nicole’s bandages. 

“I’m going to rinse off,” Nicole said. “Get in bed and wait for me?” She asked to the rim of Riviera green in Waverly’s eyes. 

Waverly nodded, stepping out of the tub, and wrapping herself in a towel before exiting the bathroom. 

She looked so small engulfed in Nicole’s oversized bath towels; shoulders slumped, an anxious little girl. 

When Nicole walked into her bedroom, Waverly was buried under the pile of covers, her back to the door, long, wavy locks let loose from the confines of the hair tie and flowing out from the covers, blanketing her pillow. 

Hair for days. 

Nicole dropped her towel, and scooted in behind Waverly, happy to find that she was also still bare. 

It took a little maneuvering before she found a comfortable position, but she wrapped Waverly in an embrace from behind and felt her little spoon burrow back deeper into her touch. 

Nicole kissed her shoulder to her neck and nuzzled in at the start of her baby hairs, breathing deeply into the field of lavender, intoxicating and soothing. 

“Promise you’ll always come home to me,” came a small voice, the words wrapping like vines around her heart, slowly squeezing.

Nicole moved back a little and pulled on Waverly enough for her to get the hint and she rolled over to meet her gaze. 

“Waverly, I won’t make a promise to you that I might not be able to keep.” 

A tear slowly ran down from the corner of the brunette’s eye, over the bridge of her nose, and landed on the pillow beneath her head with an audible pop. 

“I was so scared, Nicole. More scared than I’ve ever been in my entire life.”

Nicole took Waverly’s hand in her own and circled her thumb over and over the soft palm. 

“I know, Baby. I was too.”

Nicole moved forward and placed a light kiss to Waverly’s lips. 

“What I can promise you is that no matter what, I will fight like hell to come back. To come home to you and be in your arms.” 

Waverly closed her eyes, bottom lip quivering. 

“I don’t want to be afraid all the time,” she whispered.

Waverly knew there was more to that statement than she was willing to admit. 

The vines squeezed harder, too much pressure, and Nicole’s heart spewed out guilt and fear, coating her insides with a thick residue. 

“Ok,” Nicole drew out, a little unsure. “What can I do, Baby?” She asked tentatively, trying to calm her own nerves. 

Waverly bit the corner of her lip, contemplative. 

“Besides quit my job.” Nicole finished quickly, reading her girlfriend’s mind.

Waverly gave a small smile. 

A bit of welcomed relief. 

“Text me when you’re doing something mundane?” Her voice raised an octave in question. “So I don’t have to worry?” 

Nicole let out a laugh despite herself. 

“Waves, that would be nearly all the time,” she said smiling. “We don’t live in the gang-infested streets of Chicago. I’m usually keeping Bunny Loblaw from murdering her neighbor’s god damn cat or filing paperwork on Champ Hardy’s latest arrest for public intoxication.”

Waverly sighed, dejected, chin nearly touching chest. 

“But,” Nicole continued, hooking her finger under with gentle force. “I’ll do my best to check in with you more throughout the day, ok?” she offered when their gazes locked once again.

Waverly nodded, her cheek rubbing up and down the pillow with the motion. She reached out, her thumb stroking below the redhead’s eye. 

Nicole let her lids flutter shut. “I kinda always thought I wanted to get shot,” Nicole admitted under the spell of Waverly’s touch. “You know, a badge of honor, kinda badass,” she said with a half shrug from her horizontal position. 

“Nicole Rayleigh Haught,” Waverly scolded, and Nicole’s eyes popped open, “if you get shot again, I’m going to kill you myself.” 

Nicole let out a playful laugh. 

“That’s what I’m trying to say!” she clarified. “It hurt, no, it _hurts_ like hell. I don’t ever want to get shot again.”

Waverly nodded once, satisfied. 

“And besides, it has severely handicapped my sex life,” Nicole continued, attempting to further lighten the mood. 

Waverly raised her eyebrows, playfully offended. 

“Ok, it’s handicapped _your_ sex life,” Nicole corrected. 

Waverly gave a sly grin before rolling over to retrieve something from the bedside drawer. 

Nicole couldn’t stop a tingle of anticipation from running up her spine. 

Waverly rolled back over, her lips nearly touching Nicole’s. 

“Let me prove you wrong,” she whispered over Nicole’s mouth, and kissed once, softly, a promise. 

Nicole saw the small, black vibrator clutched in Waverly’s hand as she shifted down Nicole’s body, her lips kissing along the way and then hovering just below her bellybutton.

Nicole waited to feel the vibrator touch her core, but it never came. Instead, a much better sensation forced a high-pitched whimper from Nicole’s throat as her hands gripped the sheets below her fingers.

“Jesus, _Waves_ ,” Nicole whined out.

Waverly paused and picked up her head from between Nicole’s legs. 

Nicole looked down finding a smug grin spread across Waverly’s wet lips. 

“I’m a great multitasker,” she breathed out hotly over Nicole’s core, and wrapped her hand around one of her thighs, pulling Nicole’s leg up to rest on her back.

She returned her mouth to Nicole and when the redhead heard the tiny vibrator buzz to life, the moan that came from Waverly’s own lips pulsed through her entire body.

_God dammit._

She would not be able to hold on for long. 

**Present**

**Two Months Later**

Waverly walked into the station that Saturday with lunch in her hand and a smile on her face, ready to surprise her tall glass of water with a visit. 

When she rounded the corner to the bullpen and took in the sight in front of her, the sandwich bag nearly fell out of her hand.

Dolls and Nicole were suiting up, stuffing guns into holsters and strapping on bulletproof vests, adjusting and readjusting the Velcro that wrapped around their torsos. Both froze when they saw Waverly step into the room, her eyes blown wide. Nicole could make out the ring of green from where she was standing.

She opened her mouth as if to speak just as Doc came barging in, already talking.

“There were multiple shots fired after we got…” he glanced up from stuffing his own gun into his holster and stopped dead when he saw Waverly. 

Nicole cleared her throat.

“Hey guys, give me a second, yeah?” she asked softly, still frozen in place, afraid that any sudden movement would cause Waverly to abruptly fly away like a skittish little bird.

Doc immediately turned and left, tipping his hat ever so slightly in Waverly’s direction. 

“Haught, we need to leave ASAP,” Dolls argued weakly, a hint of sympathy in his otherwise demanding tone.

Nicole nodded. “Two minutes,” she said firmly.

Waverly watched him walk out of the room with her eyes, still not moving, sandwich bag held in a limp fist.

“We got a call from the Revenant compound outside of town. This is just standard operating procedure, Baby,” Nicole said, placing an open hand over her vest.

Waverly looked down at the gun safely secured in Nicole’s holster, and the redhead read her mind.

“And they’re always shooting off guns out there, usually just for entertainment.”

Nicole took a step closer to her. 

“Usually,” Waverly repeated in a whisper. 

“I’ll see you when I get home,” Nicole affirmed.

Waverly swallowed around the lump lodged forcefully in her throat and willed the tears just behind her eyes to stay put.

“I love you,” Nicole whispered, finally walking up to the brunette, and placing a soft kiss to her forehead.

She paused a moment, waiting for a response, but when none came, she squeezed her hand, and left the room.

Waverly finally managed to move her legs, walking over to Nicole’s desk and dropping the lunch down unceremoniously on top of it.

When she made it back to her car and drove away, it wasn’t Nicole’s house that she headed to.

**Waverly 10, Nicole 11**

“I think I know where she is,” Nicole said quietly, and all eyes turned to face her. She looked up, a little guilty. 

“Where?” Gus asked first. 

Waverly had gone missing hours after Nedley had shown up at the house, confirming what everyone already knew. 

Michelle Earp was alive and well. She just didn’t want to be found. 

“The field,” Nicole said, pointing out to the land behind the house. Everyone glanced out through the kitchen windows, squinting their eyes as if that would help them see the little, brown haired girl as she sat amongst the tall grass. 

Gus and Curtis both sighed. 

“Want me to go check it out?” Nedley asked the grown-ups in the room, but before anyone could answer, Nicole bravely piped up again. 

“Let me go?” she questioned softly, and once again, all eyes were on her. 

Gus cocked her head a little, looking at Nicole with a glimmer of recognition, finally realizing something that Nicole had known since before she even knew what knowing was. 

Nicole gulped, worried at the knowledge that her secret was not her own anymore. But Gus just barely nodded, granting permission and Nicole’s shoulders visibly relaxed. 

“If she’s not there as you say, you come straight back, yeah?” Gus asked.

“Yes ma’am,” Nicole agreed, though she knew she wouldn’t be back any time soon. 

——

Waverly heard the sound of approaching feet, and pulled her knees up higher to her chest, resting her chin on top. 

“Go away,” she called out, not turning around. 

“Waves?” Nicole said softly, and her tiny friend turned around exposing her tear streaked face to the sound of the only voice she wanted to hear in that moment. 

“Hey,” Waverly said softly, one simple word revealing so much heartbreak that Nicole’s knees nearly buckled. 

She moved forward and sat down close, but with enough room to give Waverly her own space. 

When she shifted over and rested her head on Nicole’s shoulder, despite herself and the unquestionably sad tone of the moment, Nicole’s heart gave a giddy little flip in her chest.

“I’ll always have you, right?” came a small, sad voice. 

Nicole reached over and took Waverly’s hand in her own. 

“Yeah Waves, I won't leave you.” 

**Waverly 16, Nicole 17**

“I have something to tell you,” Nicole said that evening, voice low and a little shaky. Waverly’s legs were thrown over her lap while they half-watched a nearly unbearable, overly sentimental romcom. 

Waverly immediately sat up with a look of concern written across her face. She had noticed at dinner that Nicole was a little off, only half smiling at things that would normally send her into a fit of giggles. 

Nicole looked down at Waverly’s feet, lightly running her fingers over the sock clad toes in her lap.

“My Dad got a job in Ontario,” Nicole whispered, deciding to rip off the band-aid as quickly as possible.

Waverly recoiled immediately, pulling her feet out of Nicole’s lap, and curling up at the opposite end of the couch.

\--------

“Waverly answer the fucking phone,” Wynonna demanded. “This is the fifth time she’s called in two hours!”

Wynonna, Willa, and Gus had watched Waverly mope around for three days, her eyes constantly red, and face constantly puffy from thousands of shed tears. 

Honestly, it was an improvement to have her down in the living room at all. She’d been hiding out in her room, scarcely coming down for meals and forcing Gus to leave trays of food outside her door, collecting them barely eaten at day’s end.

“You’re pulling a Momma,” Wynonna declared.

Waverly’s eyes shot up to meet her older sister’s glare.

“Don’t you dare,” Waverly growled, nearly scaring Wynonna with the viciousness of her tone.

But Wynonna never backed down from a challenge.

“You are. You’re running. Just like she did,” she stated mater-of-fact. “It’s the easier choice. For you. Easier to run than to stay and fight,” she said with a shrug. “Easier to run than say goodbye to her face.”

Waverly heaved out a sob, pulling her knees to her chest in an attempt to soothe the ache of her heart wanting to blow out from behind her rib cage.

“She leaves in two weeks, Waverly, and instead of spending them with her, you’re going to hide out in your room?” Wynonna asked, settling a warm hand over Waverly’s forearm. 

“She deserves more than that,” she whispered. “YOU deserve more than that.”

**Present**

Waverly sat on the couch while Gus and Willa sat opposite her.

Wynonna came barging through the door of the homestead with bags of groceries weighing down both arms. 

“Oh God dammit to hell,” she groused as one of the straps from the reusable bags Waverly had insisted she start using, got caught on the door handle.

Wynonna always knew how to make an entrance. 

She looked up, finally taking notice of the living room inhabitants.

“Well, can one of you assholes help…what’s going on,” she immediately set the groceries down at the sight of Waverly’s tear streaked face.

Gus and Willa turned to Waverly.

“What did she do?” Wynonna asked, digging her keys out of her back pocket. “I’ll fucking kill her. I swear to God.”

She turned to walk back out the door.

“Wynonna, no!” Waverly yelled. “She didn’t do anything!” She stood up from the couch, ready to run after her sister, knowing she was good on her word. 

The older brunette turned around.

“Then what the hell is going on?”

\-------

When Waverly was finished, Wynonna sat silently, but the look on her face told Waverly everything she needed to know.

“You’re joking,” Wynonna said with no hint of humor in her voice whatsoever. She was completely unamused.

“It’s hard for me to watch her leave every day and not know if she’s coming back!” Waverly said, voice high from the effort to hold back more tears.

“Yeah, you’ve got momma to thank for that. Not bullets,” Wynonna said dryly.

Waverly’s face fell.

“Go see a fucking shrink, baby girl. Figure out why you keep running when you feel things that scare you.”

“Wynonna,” Gus started to interject, but Waverly cut her off.

“I’m not running! I’m sitting right here!” Waverly gestured around her, and Wynonna scoffed.

“Don’t patronize me by playing dumb, baby girl.”

Waverly sat up a little straighter, a bit stunned.

“You know I meant it metaphorically,” she continued.

“Wynonna…” Waverly started. 

Gus and Willa’s heads turned back and forth between the two, silently watching the tennis match.

Wynonna sighed, exasperated. “You’ve done this enough!”

She studied Waverly’s face, waiting for a reaction. 

“Why can’t you understand? You’re running up here,” Wynonna whispered, leaning in, and pointing her index finger to Waverly’s temple, lowering her hand, and tucking hair behind Waverly’s ear. “But you can’t run here,” she said, trailing her hand down even further, resting her finger on Waverly’s chest, directly over her heart.

Waverly’s bloodshot eyes followed Wynonna’s hand, staring at the light touch for a moment before glancing back up to meet her gaze.

“Don’t do this to her,” Wynonna said quietly, and Waverly’s lower lip started to quiver. “But more importantly,” she continued, “Don’t do this to yourself. Not again.”

She got up to go collect the groceries from the door. 

“Pretty soon, it’ll be irreversible.”

**Present**

Waverly was standing up at the front of the class attempting to make the War of 1812 as interesting as possible, but it was obvious to her students that she had been a little off the past couple of days. The enthusiasm had waned noticeably. 

She glanced down at the textbook in her hand, “So when the Peace Treaty of Ghent was signed,” she said looking back up only to find all twenty-two pairs of young, bright eyes not focused on her, but rather facing the classroom door.

She followed their eyes, discovering her girlfriend leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, tiny smirk on her face and eyes staring directly at her. 

It was her day off, and she was dressed in a blue, short-sleeve button up. Ironic because the top three buttons were undone, and her black sunglasses hung in the wide, open valley exposing taut, milky skin over her collarbone down to one of Waverly’s favorite freckles on her chest. The sleeves were rolled twice, and she had it French-tucked into black, painted-on skinny jeans, cuffed once above her white high-tops. 

The exposed forearm tattoos weren’t helping.

Waverly gulped, flustered.

 _God dammit how does she always look so fucking edible?_

It was obvious that her girlfriend wasn’t there for a casual visit.

“Uhhh,” Waverly said, glancing back down at her text then back up at her students.

“Damn, Officer _HOT_ for real,” came from somewhere in the middle of the group. They all began to snicker. 

Nicole had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning.

“Ms. Gardner have a little respect,” Waverly reprimanded. The snickering died. “Everyone read silently starting from page forty-two, fifth paragraph. I’ll be right back.” 

Waverly set the book on her desk and headed toward Nicole, eyes questioning before even opening her mouth.

She led them to the teacher’s lounge and closed the door as soon as they were both inside. 

She had barely finished latching the door when Nicole spun her around and pinned her against it, attaching her lips to Waverly’s throat and immediately running her fingers up the back of her thighs, under her skirt, delighted to discover a thong, grabbing freely and firmly with both hands at the toned ass underneath. 

Waverly arched into her touch, against her better judgment. 

“I can hardly go a day without you, Waverly,” Nicole sighed into her neck, biting down. “Let alone a week,” she mumbled into the wet patch of skin she had left.

Waverly felt her underwear pool with arousal. 

“I _want_ you,” Nicole said breathlessly, an edge of desperation in her voice.

Nicole was never this brazen in public, well, at least not where either of them worked.

Waverly summoned up all of her resolve. 

“Nicole, wait,” Waverly panted, placing her palms flat on Nicole’s stomach and pushing her away. 

Waverly gulped at the blown pupils starting back at her, traces of confusion and worry just under the surface. Waverly straightened her skirt. “What are you doing here?” 

Nicole arched an eyebrow. “Well hello to you too.”

Waverly visibly slumped in resignation. 

“I have a room full of students waiting for me,” she said gesturing with one hand. “What’s going on?”

Nicole raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, what _is_ going on, Waverly?” she asked, voice raised an octave in exasperation. 

The younger woman sighed and looked down at her feet, then glanced back up into warm, kind, brown eyes with a hint of fear etched in them.

“Do you want to break up with me?” Nicole blurted out, instantly looking like vomit was soon to follow depending on Waverly’s answer. 

“What?” Waverly asked incredulously.

“You’ve been sleeping at the Homestead, avoiding me for days, you barely answer any of my calls or texts. I had to hunt you down at work!” Nicole checked off on her fingers like she had rehearsed a list. “I’ve asked Wynonna, Willa, Jeremy. They all say to give you a little time, but for what? I can’t figure it out! So, what other conclusion should I draw, Waverly?!” Nicole asked, gesticulating wildly, voice quivering with the effort to hold back tears. 

Waverly stepped closer to Nicole and reached a hand up to cup her cheek, Nicole averted her gaze.

“I want to marry you,” she said in response, and Nicole looked up. 

“What?” The question came out watery. It was Nicole’s turn to be confused. Waverly gave a soft smile. 

“I’m not proposing,” Waverly clarified, and Nicole cast her eyes downward once again. “But I want to marry you.”

“So, you’re avoiding me because you want to marry me?” Nicole questioned; confusion painted across her face. 

Guilt ripped into Waverly’s chest at how much stress she’d caused her girlfriend. 

She sighed and pointed to the round lunch table in the middle of the room and they pulled out seats opposite from one another. 

“You left the station the other day to go out to the Revenant compound, and I didn’t even tell you I loved you back.”

Nicole raised her eyebrows in a gesture to suggest that it had not gone unnoticed. 

“It could have been the last time I ever saw you, and I was so paralyzed with fear that I decided to run instead of tell you that I love you too and risk...”

Nicole’s eyes widened; her heart rate picked up. The lounge had suddenly turned into a sauna. 

“What?” She asked cautiously, not sure she wanted to hear the explanation. “Waverly...” 

“I just went to the Homestead,” she said, reaching her hands out, hoping that would help ease some of the tension she could see in Nicole’s shoulders. 

It didn’t.

Waverly sighed, looking down at her hands and nervously picking at her nails.

“My mother was a runner, Nicole. She left when things got hard. And I feel like I’ve inherited this awful trait from her, or developed it because of her, this selfish need to bail when I get scared and before I think I might get hurt and just leave everyone else as collateral damage.” 

Waverly shook her head. 

“You know this is far from the first time I’ve done it,” Waverly said, casting her eyes downward in shame. “But Wynonna’s right,” Waverly admitted. “About a lot of things…”

Nicole raised her eyebrows skeptically. It would have made Waverly laugh under different circumstances.

“The ache just follows you wherever you go.”

Waverly looked up, eyes glassy from unshed tears.

“Baby...”

Nicole rose from her seat, walked around the table, and pulled Waverly up into her arms. The brunette sunk into her, having missed her so much over the past few days, and realized once again that Nicole had come to find her, sought her out. 

“You’re fight and I’m flight,” Waverly said with a shameful shrug. “But I don’t want to make the same mistake she did. I love you so fucking much, and I want to marry you and I just needed some time to sort things out. I just needed a few days. Of clarity. Before I came back home. To you.” 

“Okay,” Nicole said softly. “I understand. But I could have helped. We could have talked through it together.” 

Waverly lightly shook her head and smiled.

“There’s this other impulse I have when I’d rather not face what’s going on up here,” Waverly said, pointing to her temple. Nicole furrowed her brow. “And it’s to rip all of your clothes off and do really dirty things to you.”

Nicole gulped and gave a little knowing smirk. 

“But you’re right, and they’ll be plenty of opportunity for us to talk through things together from here on out. I’m never running again. I promise.”

Nicole smiled. 

“At least not without you in the driver’s seat.”

“Of course, Baby,” she affirmed, squeezing her hands.

The two spent a couple more minutes talking, affirming plans, and making sure they were both okay with how they were currently leaving things. 

Nicole leaned down and placed a soft kiss to Waverly’s eager lips. 

“So, you’ll be home tonight after work?” Nicole asked encouragingly and Waverly nodded with a smile. 

She leaned back in. “And then we can go back to discussing ripping off clothes and doing dirty things?” Nicole mumbled into her lips.

Waverly pulled back.

“I think I’d rather spend more time _doing_ and less time discussing...”

The dimple made its debut for the first time that day. 

———

Waverly walked back into her classroom, rolling her eyes at the high schooler's scrambling to get back into their assigned seats and straighten their desks from where they had formed into their preferred friend groups. 

Waverly could hardly find it in her to care. It’s hard to get worked up over much after you’ve gotten a little ass in the teachers’ lounge.

“If you broke up with her, can I get her number?” Jenny Gardner called out. 

Before Waverly could scold, another voice piped in.

“They didn’t break up, dummy. She has a hickey on her neck!” 

**One Year Later**

**Waverly 28, Nicole 29**

Waverly went running from the bedroom with a delighted squeal, naked as the day she was born.

“Oh no you don’t!” Nicole called after her, close on her heels, arms stretched out, attempting to grasp her world, and the item she had confiscated from her.

She had been standing at the bathroom vanity, brushing her teeth, uniform shirt slung over her shoulders but still unbuttoned, black sports bra visible in-between with black boxer briefs poking out below the bottom hem.

She was called into work unexpectedly, vaguely explaining to Waverly why she was needed, and knowing that the tiny shrug she gave in response was only an effort to play dumb for Nicole’s sake. 

Waverly stepped out of the shower, toweling dry when she looked up and noticed Nicole staring at her through the mirror, the back and forth motion of her toothbrush slowing as her eyes traveled south. 

When they started to make their way back up again, Waverly vigorously toweled her hair with intention, knowing it would cause her breasts to jostle around. Nicole stopped altogether, lowering the foamy brush from her mouth, blatantly ogling. 

_Mission accomplished._

Waverly couldn’t help but laugh, and the sound of her giggle brought Nicole out of her dazed state. Her cheeks reddened at having been caught. She quickly spit into the sink and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Stop it, you know I have to get to work,” Nicole said with a coy grin, catching on to Waverly’s game.

“Stop what, baby?” Waverly asked innocently. “I’m just drying off.” She added a little pout with a slight shake to her head.

Nicole smirked, reaching down to start buttoning her shirt.

_Now that just won’t do._

Waverly grabbed her badge sitting next to the sink, poised to be positioned on her freshly pressed button up, and ran from the room, down the hallway, and toward the stairs.

And that’s what had led them to now.

Once they made it downstairs, Nicole jumped over the coffee table, narrowing the gap, and wrapping her arms around Waverly’s waist before she could make it to the kitchen. She pulled her down on the couch.

“Gotcha,” Nicole whispered over Waverly’s lips, taking the badge from her hand, and blindly setting it down on the coffee table next to them. 

Waverly grinned, but then turned out her bottom lip in an irresistible pout.

Nicole kissed it. 

“Don’t go,” she pleaded, giving her best puppy-dog eyes.

Nicole groaned.

“Baby, I have to,” she said, running her hand down Waverly’s bare side and back up again, gripping lightly around her neck and planting a soft kiss to her lips. “All hands on deck,” she supplied. “You’ll be here when I get back?” Nicole asked, still a little needy of reassurance even though Waverly had made great progress in the last year toward coming to terms with her past. 

Nicole was ready for the future. Ready for forever. She knew Waverly was too. 

She just needed to find the right time. 

Waverly smiled and nodded, eyes flicking down to Nicole’s lips briefly.

“Yeah, Baby, I’ll be here,” she responded. “Waiting for you,” she added seductively, pushing her hips up and lightly grinding on Nicole’s bare stomach between her shirt. 

Nicole closed her eyes, breathing in through her nose and biting her bottom lip. “I just wish your hands could stay right here. On me.” 

“God dammit,” she sighed, feeling Waverly’s wetness paint her abdomen.

She glanced back at Waverly only to find her already staring, eyes dark with lust.

Nicole’s jaw muscles twitched.

She started to shift, moving down Waverly’s body, kissing along the way. 

Waverly began to breathe heavily, shaky.

“I thought you said,” she paused when Nicole reached her bellybutton, “you have to go,” she exhaled, eyelids fluttering closed as a warm, wet mouth kissed below it causing her back to arch instinctively.

Nicole shifted further still and without warning, flattened her tongue and swiped hard from entrance to clit.

“Fuck!” Waverly yelled out, grabbing the decorative pillow behind her head with one hand and gripping Nicole’s soft, fiery hair in the other with so much fervor that Nicole had to look back up, finding her girlfriend’s eyes wide, mouth parted, and chest rapidly rising and falling.

“I’ll make this quick,” she said with a smirk, and dove back in.

\------

Waverly turned at the sound of someone approaching. She smiled when she discovered it was her favorite redhead. Nicole crouched down in the grass next to her girl. The love of her life. Her best friend.

“Hi, Baby,” Waverly said, smile on her face as radiant as the sun shining down on them. She bookmarked the page in her latest book and set it in her lap. 

“You weren’t there when I got home,” Nicole said leaning in and placing a soft kiss to Waverly’s lips.

Waverly furrowed her brow with a look of concern. “I’m sorry. Did I worry you?”

Nicole shook her head and smiled. “No. I knew where you’d be.”

Waverly narrowed her eyes with a grin spreading across her face.

“Oh yeah? How’d you find me?” she challenged.

Nicole smiled fondly and looked out over the field toward the mountains, admiring the view. Even though she’d seen it a million times in her life already, it never looked the same way twice. 

“This is where we both come,” she shrugged with a knowing smile. “When we want to be together, and when we can’t be together.”

Nicole took a deep breath of mountain air, closed her eyes, and smiled. Waverly kept her eyes glued to her girlfriend, so much love pouring out of her for the woman next to her. 

“We grew up on this land. We fell in love on this land. This is our spot. It will always be our spot.”

Waverly hummed happily and looked out past the field admiring the view as well.

“Hey Waverly?” she asked while picking a single wildflower out of the earth below her, bright orange with a little splash of yellow in the middle.

Spring had finally elbowed her way into Purgatory, and for that, they were all grateful.

She reached out and brushed the back of her fingers on Waverly’s cheek, but the brunette kept her gaze on the mountains, serene expression evident on her face. 

“Waves?” Nicole asked again.

Waverly closed her eyes at the feel of Nicole’s hands on her skin. “Yes?” she whispered.

“I asked you a question in this field a long time ago…”

Waverly slowly turned to face Nicole, her eyebrows furrowed in question, but her eyes shown with a little glimmer of recognition and elation. 

“You answered me ‘yes’ back then. I’m hoping you’ll do the same now.”

Waverly’s eyes widened as Nicole raised slightly onto one knee and extended the flower out in offering.

“Will you marry me?”

\--------- 

Waverly and Nicole walked hand in hand up to the house. They decided to take a moment for themselves while everyone else was down in the field, enjoying the beautiful summer day, drinks in hand, all so very merry from the day’s festivities. 

Nicole couldn’t take her eyes off of her bride. The simple, white, dress blew in the light breeze, making Waverly look like an angel gliding just above the earth’s surface.

As they approached the steps, Wynonna and Willa came out onto the porch. 

“Hey Nonna, guess what?” Waverly said stopping in front of her. She narrowed her brows. It had been forever since Waverly had called her by the pet name. 

“What?” She drew out skeptically. 

Waverly turned to Nicole, smiling, and her wife smiled back and squeezed her hand.

The story of their first marriage had been one of their favorites growing up, and Waverly had asked Willa and Wynonna to tell it to them often.

“We got married today.” 

Wynonna huffed in annoyance.

“Did you also hit your head? I was standing right next to you when you did it.” 

Waverly turned to Nicole again and rolled her eyes. She shrugged apologetically.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Willa said as she stepped out from behind Wynonna. 

The three women grinned at each other knowingly.

Wynonna looked back and forth between them.

“Wait...” Wynonna said, eyes growing wide in recognition. “Hold up, hold up, is this some full circle shit we’re dealing with right now?!”

The three women laughed at the joyous look on Wynonna’s face.

“It is, isn’t it?!”

“At least you can finally consummate it properly this time,” Willa said with a shrug and a grin.

Waverly looked over at her wife again. Nicole’s chin length, wavy hair was radiant in the sunlight, and her dark brown eyes twinkled with happiness as she smiled, that irresistible dimple hadn’t left her face all day. The white collared shirt under her dark blue suspenders was unbuttoned to near impropriety, and the sleeves were rolled up to her forearms exposing the smattering of tattoos she had acquired over the years. 

“Yeah, about that...” Waverly said, licking her bottom lip and trapping it between her teeth. She hooked a finger behind one of the suspenders and pulled her wife toward the steps. 

Wynonna made a gagging noise.

Willa stepped out of the way. 

Nicole smiled wider.

**Waverly 5, Nicole 6**

The two little girls stood facing each other surrounded by the field of wildflowers. Waverly held one in her hand, having been given it only moments before as an offering and with a question. 

“Ok so now I’ll say some things that I like about you and you’ll say some things you like about me.”

Waverly nodded once in understanding. 

“I like that you’re pretty and kind. And I like that you hold my hand when we walk. I like that you climb trees and you’re not afraid. I like it when you laugh.” 

Waverly smiled shyly. 

“Your turn,” Nicole said encouragingly. 

“I like that you pick flowers with me. And I like that you’re tall and keep the sun out of my face sometimes when we play. And you push me real high on the swings. I like that you hold my hand too.” 

Nicole nodded once. Satisfied. 

“And now we’re married?” Waverly asked.

“Yep,” Nicole responded with a pop.

“And we’ll be together forever?”

“Yep,” the redhead confirmed, “forever.”

They grinned at each other, and then Waverly grabbed Nicole’s hand and they took off running towards the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. Thanks. So much. Your love for this story was completely unexpected, and such a lovely surprise. It's hard to part with, but I've already got a new one started, so that's made it a bit easier. Until next time...


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